Asia Cup 2022: India Reaches Super 4 Stage By Beating Hong Kong

Virat Kohli & Suryakumar Yadav each scored 50s runs to help India reach 192 before the bowlers successfully held Hong Kong to 152 runs to win over Hong Kong.

At the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, India easily defeated Hong Kong by a score of 40 runs to round off its Asia Cup Group ‘A’ campaign. India qualified for the Super Four with two victories in as many games.

India set a lofty goal of 193 for Hong Kong, which the minnows found to be an impossible mountain to scale. Hong Kong was able to bat for the entire 20 overs, but they were unable to pose a significant threat.

When component Virat Kohli entered the game to bowl in the 17th over with the victory already secured, the crowd went wild. 

Avesh Khan & Arshdeep Singh, two speedsters, had terrible performances, giving up 53 and 44 runs in each of their four overs, respectively.

India, which was given the opportunity to bat, overcame an extremely slow start to compile a respectable total. When the run-rate required a lift, Suryakumar Yadav (68 no., 26b, 6×4, 6×6) activated the jets. 

The Mumbai hitter was aggressive from the first ball of the innings to the last, starting with a sweep four and finishing with four sixes off the final over.

In the 16th over, fast bowler Aizaz Khan showed off his diverse repertoire with a scoop six. In the final over, which was delivered by Haroon Arshad, Suryakumar lost control and smacked the pacer all over the field. 

India scored 54 runs in the final three overs thanks to Suryakumar’s fireworks, thus putting the total out of Hong Kong’s reach.

Suryakumar exemplified the team management’s directive to play an aggressive style of cricket, whereas K.L. Rahul (36, 39b, 2×6) and Virat Kohli (59 n.o., 44b, 1×4, 3×6) were overly cautious. 

Rahul failed to move the ball off the square and appeared badly out of sorts. The Karnataka opener consumed numerous dot balls and only made two successful connections.

While Kohli did a little better, he was still not particularly impressive. Most shockingly, Rahul and Kohli chose to snoop about for singles rather than attack.

After the Powerplay, India limped to 44 for 1, and after 10 overs, refreshments were called, they were at 70 for 1.

For the second wicket, the pair added 56 runs in 49 balls together. Rahul was out after edging a sweep from spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar, which wicketkeeper Scott McKechnie caught. 

Fast bowler Ayush Shukla tricked Rohit Sharma (21, 13b, 2×4, 1×6) by slowing down the ball to catch the batsman playing far too early.

India just made one alteration from the lineup that faced Pakistan, refraining from making many adjustments to its starting eleven. 

Hardik Pandya was replaced by Rishabh Pant. Dinesh Karthik handled the fielding while Pant managed the wickets.