DAMBULLA, July 16: Rahul Dravid smashed an impressive 104 and Irfan Pathan grabbed three quick wickets as India thrashed the inexperienced United Arab Emirates by 116 runs in an Asia Cup Group-B league match here on Friday.

India were tottering at 65-3 after electing to bat in the day-night match on a slow pitch before posting a competitive 260-6 against the non-Test-playing nation, thanks to Dravid's ninth century.

Left-arm fast bowler Irfan then captured three early wickets in as many overs as UAE were bowled out for 144 after being 45-6 at one stage. Lower-order batsman Mohammad Tauqir, struck on the helmet and the body by left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan on a couple of occasions, top-scored with 55 on debut.

Asghar Ali (14) and Asim Saeed (12) were the other batsmen to reach double-figures against a sharp Indian pace attack, spearheaded by Irfan who was on a hat-trick in his third over when he dismissed Saeed and Aslam Naeemuddin off successive balls.

Part-time spinner Sachin Tendulkar claimed the last three wickets and pace man Laxmipathy Balaji finished with two. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble (1-16) became the fourth-highest wicket-taker with 316, behind only retired Pakistani pace duo of Wasim Akram (502) and Waqar Younis (416) and Sri Lanakan Muttiah Muralitharan (360).

But the afternoon belonged to Dravid, who came to his team's rescue with a responsible knock after the cheap dismissals of Virender Sehwag (nought), Tendulkar (18) and Venkatsai Laxman (14).

Dravid scored a run-a-ball half-century and then took just 40 deliveries more to reach the three-figure mark. He hit eight fours in his 93-ball knock. He was involved in two useful stands, adding 88 for the fourth wicket with skipper Sourav Ganguly (55) and 59 for the sixth with Mohammad Kaif (32 not out).

Ganguly was dropped twice early in the innings, including off the first ball in the slips, and then survived a confident appeal for leg-before before completing a chancy half-century.

UAE, playing their first major one-day international since the 1996 World Cup, bowled tight in the initial overs to put their more experienced rivals in a spot. New-ball bowlers Saeed and Ali Asad never allowed the Indians to dominate.

The famed Indian batting struggled in the season's first match as Sehwag was run out for a third-ball duck following a mix-up with Tendulkar. Tendulkar also did not last long as he was caught at short mid-wicket by a diving Fahad Usman off left-arm seamer Saeed, who earned 1,000 dollars offered by team officials for claiming the scalp of the master batsman.

SCOREBOARD

India

V. Sehwag run out 0

S. Tendulkar c Usman b Saeed 18

S. Ganguly c Naeemuddin b Latif 55

V. Laxman c and b Tauqir 14

R. Dravid b Latif 104

Y. Singh b Khan 22

M. Kaif not out 32

IrfanPathan not out 1

Extras (lb10, w4) 14

Total (for six wickets) 260

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-30, 3-65, 4-153, 5-195, 6-254.

Bowling: Asad 10-1-38-0, Saeed 7-2-25-1, Maqsood 4-0-24-0, Tauqir 10-0-46-1, Khan 10-0-48-1, Latif 9-0-69-2.

UAE

A. Saeed c Kaif b Irfan 12

Arshad Ali c Dravid b Irfan 0

F. Usman lbw b Balaji 9

A. Nameeuddin lbw b Irfan 0

K. Khan lbw b Balaji 5

S. Maqsood c Laxman b Zaheer 5

Asghar Ali lbw b Kumble 14

M. Tauqir st Dravid b Tendulkar 55

A. Rehman b Tendulkar 1

A. Asad not out 9

R. Latif c Laxman b Tendulkar 0

Extras (b8, lb1, nb4, w21) 34

Total 144

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-26, 4-29, 5-36, 6-45, 7-97, 8-121, 9-144.

Bowling: Irfan Pathan 8-0-28-3, Balaji 8-2-28-2, Zaheer 8-1-42-1, Kumble 7-1-16-1, Tendulkar 4-0-21-3. -AFP

TODAY'S MATCHES: Pakistan v Bangladesh at Colombo; Sri Lanka v UAE at Dambulla (day-night)