United Arab Emirates captain Mohammad Tauqir admitted that the Indian bowling attack led by spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completely outplayed his side in the Pool B match of the ICC Cricket World Cup, here today.
Ashwin took four for 16 as India bundled out UAE for 102 before romping home by nine wickets.
"I think it was a difficult wicket with a lot of bounce and carry. India outplayed us with their bowling. They bowled in excellent areas and we found it difficult to cope with it," Tauqir said at the post-match media conference.
Asked about how difficult it was to bat against Ashwin, the UAE skipper was candid in his reply.
"You can see for yourself. He got four wickets. I believe more than the turn that was on offer, we found it difficult to cope with the bounce as it created a lot of problems for our batsmen," Tauqir assessed.
"We had two good games against Ireland and Zimbabwe but obviously, India are far more professional side with a better spin attack. Actually their spin attack outplayed us. More we play against bigger teams like India, more we will learn and the fear of playing bigger opposition will go," he observed.
But Tauqir was evasive when asked if minnows like UAE would get a chance to play against full member nations on a regular basis.
"That's for the authorities to decide. This tournament is a learning curve for us. Obviously we will learn from our mistakes in this game. Our aim would be try and commit lesser mistakes in the remaining three games and show improvement," he said.
The skipper was not happy with his side's batting effort.
"We need our batsmen to take more responsibility in the coming matches. We got out in just 30-odd overs and we need to bat through the 50 overs," Tauqir added.
