India 'A' set 197 for UAE in EurAsia Cup

Abu Dhabi, Apr 30 (UNI) Wicket-keeper batsmen Dinesh Karthick and in-form all-rounder Rohit Sharma saved the blushes for India 'A' as they were restricted to a poor 196 all out by minnows United Arab Emirates in the six-nation Eurasia Series at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here today.

In reply, UAE were tottering on 39 for five from 11 overs when reports last came in with RP Singh and VRV Singh taking three and two opposition wickets respectively.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, India 'A' were down to 20 for three with Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan and captain Venugopal Rao back in the pavillion in the ninth over, falling to Asad Ali's pace.

But, Karthik (75, 87 balls, 5X4, 2X6) and Sharma (56, 68 balls, 4X4) put on 123-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take India 'A' to a defendable target.

Dhawan (1) was the first to go in the third over in the fourth ball he faced in the innings, while Uthappa scored two facing 14 balls before departing in the fifth over.

Rao tried contro the damage sticking onto the wicket, but failed and got out after scoring seven runs from 29 balls.

After sticking together for 24 overs, Sharma was the first to depart out in the 33rd over and Karthik followed suit two overs later.

The Indian tail failed to wag before the Emirates bowling.

They added just 44 runs from 12 overs and were all out for 196 in 46.5 overs.

For UAE, Ali Asad was the most successful bowler with a figure of 10-3-30-3.

Scoreboard: India 'A' innings: Robin Uthappa c Arshad Ali b Ali Asad 2 Shikhar Dhawan c Abdul Rehman b Ali Asad 1 Venugopal Rao c Abdul Rehman b Ali Asad 7 Dinesh Karthik c Naeemuddin Aslam b Zahid Shah 75 Rohit Sharma c Abdul Rehman b Zahid Shah 56 A Jhunjhunwala c Abdul Rehman b Arshad Ali 12 Ravinder Jadeja st Abdul Rehman b Khurram Khan 16 Piyush Chawla run out 10 VRV Singh c Amjad Javed b Mohammad Tauqir 4 RP Singh not out 3 SS Paul lbw b Khurram Khan 0 Extras: (LB-1, W-8, NB-1) 10 Total: (All out in 46.5 overs) 196 Fall of wickets: 1/1 2/6 3/20 4/143 5/152 6/169 7/182 8/189 9/196 10/196 Bowling: Ali Asad 10-3-30-3 Zahid Shah 10-0-34-2 Ahmed Raza 5-0-24-0 Mohammad Tauqir 10-0-40-1 Khurram Khan 2.5-0-23-2 Arshad Ali 9-0-44-1 UNI XC PDS KP2128