Dubai, Aug 31: Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering 68*, Virat Kohli’s 59* and Ravindra Jadeja’s quick fielding helped India secure direct qualification to the Super Four phase of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 after beating Hong Kong by 40 runs here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
India outplayed Hong Kong in all departments and also became the second team to qualify for the Super four.
Chasing 193, Hong Kong got off to a bad start after their opening batter Yasim Murtaza lost his wicket. After getting hit for two fours, Arshdeep Singh gave Team India their first breakthrough in the form of Yasim Murtaza’s wicket, which was caught by Avesh Khan.
Nizakat Khan was run out by Ravindra Jadeja after scoring 10 runs in 12 deliveries. The spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja delivered fantastically and did not allow Hong Kong batters to score big runs. After 10 overs, Hong Kong’s score read 65/2.
Jadeja gave his team a much-needed wicket as he dismissed Babar Hayat, who smashed 41 runs in 35 deliveries.
Hong Kong suffered another blow as Avesh Khan bowled out Aizaz Khan after scoring 14 in 13 balls.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave another blow to Hong Kong as he sent Kinchit Shah back into the hut after scoring 30 runs in 28 balls.
Zeeshan Ali slammed a six and Scott McKechnie hammered a six and back-to-back two fours on the delivery of Avesh Khan in the 19th over of the innings.
In the last over, Zeeshan Ali slammed back-to-back two fours against Arshdeep Singh, but failed to take his team home and suffered a 40-run defeat against India.
Earlier, Virat Kohli’s much-anticipated fifty and Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering 68* guided India to 192/2 against Hong Kong.
Kohli smashed an unbeaten 59 while Suryakumar scored 68* to guide India to a challenging total. For Hong Kong, Mohammad Ghazanfar and Ayush Shukla bagged one wicket each.
In the last over, Suryakumar slammed back-to-back three sixes followed by another six while also bringing up his half-century in 22 balls. (ANI)
