'They are playing an exciting brand...': Suryakumar Yadav shares his take on India's Asia Cup opener against UAE

Team India is set to kick-off their Asia Cup campaign with the clash against UAE on September 10. This will be the second match of the continental tournament which will commence from September 9 with the match between Afghanistan and Hong Kong.

Though India head into the tournament as the favourites and are expected to defeat UAE, the latter have been playing an impressive brand of cricket as of recent. They recently played a tri-series against Pakistan and Afghanistan and gave both the teams a run for their money. Though they ended up losing out in all the three matches they played, UAE can still go on to cause problems for opposing teams in the continental tournament and thus, they cannot be taken lightly by any means.

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India captain Suryakumar Yadav shared his views on facing-off against UAE in their tournament opener and remarked that the latter have been playing an 'exciting' brand in their recent matches and added that the side is looking forward to lockking horns against them.

"They are playing an exciting brand, they played a tournament recently, they came close. He said (UAE captain) - they didn't cross the line. I hope they do in the Asia Cup. We are excited to play them," Suryakumar said in the pre-tournament captains' press-conference.

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The Men in Blue skipper also gave his take on the side not competing much in the shortest format coming into the tournament and remarked that the players were able to prepare well during the IPL. Notably, India's last T20I assignment was a five-match series against England that came to a conclusion earlier this year in February.

India last played a T20I in February

"Yes, as a team, we played a T20I series in January and February. The boys also played the IPL. But yeah, we haven't played any cricket together since June. So, let's see what happens tomorrow," Suryakumar stated.

Meanwhile, following their clash against UAE, India will be taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14 before bringing their group stage to a conclusion with the match against Oman on September 19. It will be interesting to see if the Men in Blue will manage to bring home a record ninth Asia Cup title or not.