Skipper Yash Dhull led from the front with a blazing unbeaten century after pacer Harshit Rana's heroics with the ball as India 'A' registered a commanding eight-wicket win over UAE 'A' in their opening match of the ACC Men's Emerging Cup in Colombo on Friday.
Right-arm fast bowler Rana (4/41) was right on the money after Dhull won the toss and elected to field. He was ably supported by Andhra Pradesh pacer Nitish Kumar Reddy (2/32) and slow left-arm orthodox Manav Suthar (2/28) as India 'A' restricted UAE 'A' to a paltry 175 for 9 in their 50 overs.
The target was never going to pose any threat to the Indians and they completed the formalities in 26.3 overs, reaching 179 for the loss of two wickets.
Sent into bat in the Group B match, UAE 'A' never got going and found it difficult to accumulate runs against the Indians' incisive bowling.
Ashwanth Valthapa (46), opener Aryansh Sharma (38) and Mohammed Faraazuddin (35) were the only three significant contributors for the Arab side.
Chasing 176 to win, India 'A' lost both their openers -- Sai Sudharsan (8) and Abhishek Sharma (19) inside the sixth over with the scoreboard reading 41 but Dhull (108 not out) and Nikin Jose (41 not out) ensured an easy win, stitching unbeaten 138 runs for the third wicket.
Dhull's attacking knock was full of flair and timing as he scored his runs off just 84 balls, finding the boundary fence as many as 20 times and clearing it once.
Jose, on the other hand, played the second fiddle and decorated his 53-ball innings with just five boundaries.
The pace combination of Ali Naseer (1/14) and Muhammad Jawadullah (1/47) were the wicket takers for UAE 'A'.
India 'A' will next play Nepal in Colombo on July 17 before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan 'A' on July 19 in the final group game.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be played on July 21. The final is scheduled to be held on July 23.
