Perth/New Delhi: India stormed into the quarter-finals of World Cup in style. Having demolished Pakistan and South Africa in their first two matches by dishing out clinical performances, the defending champions India bagged a 9-wicket victory against minnows UAE in Perth on Saturday.
Riding on Ravichandran Ashwin’s four-wicket haul, India bundled out UAE for 102 and then chased down the total at ease in just 18.5 overs. Even though, India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (14) early, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stood firm to guide India to a easy victory. While Rohit remained unbeaten on a well-crafted half-century (57), Virat too played a knock of 33.
With this win, India topped the group and ensured a spot in the quarters, but also bagged third successive win in the tournament, setting a new record.
Bowling first, Ashwin and Jadeja put up a spin web as UAE crumbled for just 102 in 31.3 overs. Ashwin scalped 4, while Jadeja claimed 2.
After beating Pakistan and South Africa, India were eyeing a hat-trick of victories, and on Saturday it looked that the defending champions were in a hurry to finish things off quickly.