The ongoing Asia Cup 2016 is being played in T20 format for the very first time. Keeping World T20 preparations in mind, all the teams were keen on to brush their batting and bowling skills before the mega event. The pitches provided in Mirpur for Asia Cup are already the talking point of every discussion due to its varied nature. MS Dhoni has openly criticized the wickets provided in Dhaka and termed them as ‘not ideal’ for T20 cricket, as they seem more bowler friendly in nature.

Indian bowlers seem to be on a roll in this tournament, they have adapted well to the conditions and are certainly enjoying bowling on these surfaces. In today’s match against UAE, the Indian bowlers started in similar fashion, they bowled good line and length which didn’t allow UAE batsmen to score freely. At the end of Powerplay, UAE scored 21 runs at the loss of 2 wickets.

Some Interesting facts from the UAE innings:

• India became the first test nation to bowl 4 maiden overs in a T20 innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled two of them while Hardik Pandya and Harbhajan Singh bowled one each. The three other countries who have achieved the similar feat are Kenya, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, all are associate nations.

• UAE took 11 balls to score their first run of the match. Zimbabwe holds the record for consuming the most number of balls to score their first run – 21 balls to get off the mark against West Indies in 2010, Port of Spain.

• This was the third instance when Indian bowlers bowled a first over maiden in T20 internationals against UAE. Earlier in 2010 against Australia in Bridgetown and in 2011 against West Indies in Port of Spain, Indian bowlers has bowled six dots in the first over of the innings.

• Lowest Powerplay score against India, UAE managed 21/2 in the first six overs equalling Zimbabwe’s record of a similar number of runs in a T20 match.

• In his quota of four overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled 20 dot balls, the second highest number of dots bowled in a T20 innings. He bowled two maiden overs against UAE.

• In first 10 overs (60 balls), UAE batsmen played 45 dot balls.

• Pawan Negi becomes the fifth Indian to take two catches on their T20 international debut. The other four are Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Manoj Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu.