India emerged victorious once more as they beat Hong Kong in their second group A match. It was a convincing victory by 40 runs that gives India the ticket to the super 4 stage.
Hong Kong won the coin toss and chose to bowl first.
Out came Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma to start the Indian innings. Rohit Sharma played a good knock of 21 off 13 balls, striking 2 fours and a maximum. But he was dismissed at the end of the 5th over by Ayush Shukla. A mistimed shot saw him get caught at mid-on by Aiziz Khan.
KL Rahul played a fine knock too but rather started slowly in his innings of 36 off 39 balls that included 2 sixes. Kohli was at the crease at the other end. But it was Virat who started showing the aggressive intent just like in the last match. The two stitched a fine partnership of 56 before KL Rahul was dismissed by Mohammad Ghazanfar at the end of the 13th over.
Out came Suryakumar Yadav. He got off to a flyer as he played a gem of an innings to score 68 off just 26 balls. He hit 6 fours and 6 sixes along the way as he remained unbeaten. Kohli and Suryakumar put up a partnership of 98 for the 3rd wicket. When it seemed like India would finish with a total of around 160, the massive surge of runs saw India take their total to 192/2. Virat Kohli also played his part as he remained unbeaten on 59 off 44 balls striking 1 four and 3 sixes.
With 193 to chase down, Hong Kong had a lot of work to do. They put up a decent show in the powerplay as they ended up scoring 51/2 in 6 overs. Yazim Murtaza was dismissed early by Arshdeep Singh. And at the last ball of the powerplay, skipper Nizakat Khan drove the ball directly to Ravi Jadeja, who rarely misses the stumps and pulled off a direct hit to dismiss the Hong Kong captain.
Babar Hayat on the other hand, was playing a super knock. He had scored 41 off 35 balls hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes. But on the first ball of the 12th over, he miscued his shot to end up getting caught by Avesh Khan and dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja.
Avesh got the wicket of Aizaz Khan in the 15th over. Hong Kong were 105/4.
Kinchit Shah tried to steer things his side’s way but he was also dismissed for 30 off 28 balls by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first ball of the 18th over. The mountain now seemed to high to ascend for Hong Kong.
Zeeshan Ali played a good cameo of 26 off 17 balls that contained 2 fours and a six. Wicket-keeper Scott McKechnie also starred with the bat as he scored 16 off 8 hitting 2 fours and a six. But these efforts would come a little too late as Hong Kong could only manage 152/5 in their 20 overs.
It was an all round bowling performance with Bhuvneshwar, Jadeja, Arshdeep and Avesh getting 1 wicket each.
India wrapped it up and won the match by 40 runs to get their well deserved 2 points. India have now won both of their fixtures so far in this year’s Asia Cup campaign. They will move to the Super 4 stage which is set to begin on 3rd September.
Image credit: Twitter
💫PLEASE DO FOLLOW US FOR MORE UPDATES. ❌WE DO NOT HAVE IRRITATING AND SPAMMY NEWSLETTERS. ✅EVERYTHING IS AND WILL BE FREE FOREVER. SEE YOU AGAIN IN YOUR STORIES AND FEED 🙂
