By Ashok Namboodri
And that’s a wrap, ladies and gentlemen, to Day 2 of the Asia Cup 2025, with reigning champions India crushing hosts UAE and reaching the winning runs in a mere 4.3 overs. Kuldeep Yadav was awarded Player of the Match for his four-wicket haul for just seven runs, a performance that should do his confidence a world of good. For me personally, today was my first experience of reporting a match as a journalist and making my debut in front of the camera. A long way to go, but the adrenaline rush feels good, and I am looking forward to this series and beyond.
A lot of discussion prior to the match centred around Gautam Gambhir’s strategy and who would play and who would miss out. Who would bat at number three, would Sanju Samson be selected or left out, and would Jitesh Sharma get a look-in? Many of our pre-match predictions went wrong with Samson getting the nod, Suryakumar Yadav coming in at number three, and India fielding three spinners. The jury is still out on whether India should have batted first after winning the toss; the flip side is that the bowlers all shared the spoils, and this should augur well for the matches ahead. At the end of the day, the consensus amongst the Revsportz panel experts was that Gambhir was not afraid to take the calls, stick to his convictions, and “walk the talk”.
Today’s match for India was about building momentum for the tournament, and especially the showdown against Pakistan on Sunday. For host nation UAE, under the guidance of Lalchand Rajput, it was about believing they could compete with the champions on this stage. We debated how scheduling plays a critical role in the success of such tournaments—whether the match was used well by India to prepare for the Sunday blockbuster or whether it was a wasted opportunity.
The crowd inside the stadium was sparse, and excitement about the tournament has been lacklustre thus far. We discussed the positioning of the Asia Cup brand—is it a build-up for the World Cup, or does it merit its place as the continental showdown for teams from the region, much like the Euros in football?
For me, the experience of watching the match and carrying the story to our audiences across the world was novel. The stories of what could have been and what were not are still unravelling. Discussions about the temperature and humidity, the legendary ‘Ring of Fire’ in the Dubai stadium with 350 lights eschewing the need for towers and minimising shadows on the ground but impacting the efficacy of players taking high catches, pitch conditions, and what to expect going forward made for a heady cocktail.
Let’s look at the statistics, though—the UAE innings ended abruptly as they were bowled out for just 57 runs in 13.1 overs, their lowest total in Asia Cup history. India chased down the minimal target in style, reaching 60 for 1 in just 4.3 overs to win by nine wickets. Suryakumar Yadav, captaining the side, ended a long-standing coin-toss curse: India won a toss for the first time in 16 matches across all formats.
At a personal level, I have fallen in love with the game of glorious uncertainties all over again. Cricket journalism is romantic because it goes beyond scores, capturing the poetry of the game—the stillness before a delivery, the elegance of a cover drive, the drama of triumph and heartbreak. It turns statistics into stories, and fleeting moments into timeless memory.
Follow Revsportz for latest sports news