Asia Cup 2025: Captains speak out ahead of India vs UAE clash

The second match of the Asia Cup 2025 will be played between India and UAE at the Dubai International Stadium, Dubai. Ahead of the clash, captains of both the teams assembled at the centre of the ground for the coin toss. Well, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav looked quite ecstatic when he won the toss and chose to field first. 

SKY mentioned that since it's quite humid out there so the chances of dew factor is more. Hence, bowling second will surely help them. Interestingly, Dubai hasn't been pleasant for India, particularly in the T20s. However, the Men in Blue will have a good chance to change the stats. 

UAE captain Muhammad Waseem also admitted that they were looking to bowl first. They played a Tri-series against Pakistan and Afghanistan where their performance was disappointing. UAE failed to win a single match throughout the Tri-series. However, captain Waseem was quite positive about the learnings they got in the series. 

Also read: Former India cricketer blasts on Gautam Gambhir and Co., 'Ab UAE ke against bhi tumhe Bumrah chahiye?' 

Suryakumar Yadav said, "We'll bowl first. Looks a nice fresh wicket. Humid also today, might be dew later. If we get an opportunity, we're flexible to do anything but today we want to bowl. We came here early, had 3-4 good practice sessions and also a day off."

Muhammad Waseem said, "We were also looking to bowl. Pitch is fresh and maybe the ball will do something early. We had a good series, took many positive points and we're confident from that series. We're going with a good combination with spinners and fast bowlers, and juniors and seniors."

Pitch Update

The pitch in Dubai is quite indifferent today. As per the match officials, there is grass on one end and the other end is bare. This means that nothing can pe predicted in terms of how the ball will swing or whether it will come on to the bat. One relief for the batters is that the boundaries are shorter which might help them score runs. 

IND vs UAE Playing XI

United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem(c), Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra(w), Asif Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh

India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy

Also read: India vs UAE, 2nd match, Asia Cup 2025 match preview, H2H stats and other details