India have added fuel to the fire of the argument against keeping the minnow nations in future World Cup tournaments, with a commanding nine-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates at the WACA Ground on Saturday.

The unbeaten Indians showed the true gulf that exists between the top sides and the rest in front of a dismal Perth crowd of just 8718.

The UAE won the toss and chose to bat first, but were dismissed for just 102 in the 32nd over, well short of the 7-285 they posted against Zimbabwe and the 9-278 against Ireland in earlier games.

Before the 31-run last wicket partnership between Shaiman Anwar and Manjulu Guruge, the UAE were staring down the barrel of one of the top 10 low scores in World Cup history.

Bermuda and Bangladesh share the ninth-worst World Cup total of 78.

The Indians reached 1-104 to claim victory in just 18.5 overs, without really exerting themselves.

They lost the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan for 14 when the score was 29, but it took a terrific one-handed catch by Rohan Mustafa off the bowling of Mohammad Naveed to complete the dismissal.

The game was over seven minutes (2.5 overs) after the players took the scheduled break for what should have been the change of innings. The artificial light had only just taken over.

Indian opener Rohit Sharma played himself into some much-needed form, with an unbeaten 57 from 55 balls, including 10 boundaries and a six, following his duck and innings of 15 against South Africa and Pakistan respectively.

Virat Kohli also remained unbeaten, on 33 from 41 balls.

The UAE's earlier competitive totals were made on friendlier wickets in Brisbane and Nelson. And the Indians were keen to test the young cricketing nation's ability to play the short delivery on a lively WACA pitch.

It wasn't the pacey wicket that was the UAE's undoing though, but the spin bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Ashwin returned the third best bowling figures by an Indian spinner at a World Cup, with 4-25 from his 10 overs, while Jadeja claimed 2-23 from five overs.

Only Anwar, batting at number six, looked capable of holding firm against India.

He top-scored with 35, having also led the way against Ireland (106) and Zimbabwe (67).

Ashwin sliced through the UAE's middle order. He had number 3, Krishna Karate, caught by Suresh Raina at leg slip for four from 27 balls, Swapnil Patil edging to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip for seven from 19 deliveries and Khurran Khan, the only top five batsman to reach double figures, 14, also caught at by leg-slip by Raina.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, playing instead of the injured Mohammed Shami, failed to impress the Indian selectors with the ball.

He bowled too short and while he took one wicket, claiming opener Amjad Ali, caught behind by M.S. Dhoni for just four, he still went for 19 runs from his five overs.

He is likely to make way for Shami if the latter overcomes his knee injury in time to play against the West Indies in Perth on Friday.

The UAE continue their tough travel schedule, with a clash against Pakistan in Napier on Wednesday.