- Mar 4, 2024
- Feb 13, 2023
India and Hong Kong squared off against each other in the fourth match of the Asia Cup on Wednesday. The coin went Hong Kong’s way and they elected to field first. India started with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma as openers. Rohit looked good for his 21 off 13 deliveries but he perished to Ayush Shukla, who bowled a very good spell of 1-29 in his 4 overs.
Kl Rahul’s innings at the top was very scratchy and it was a start-stop knock, to say the least. He got 36 off 39 balls with two sixes in them and he just could not get going. He tried all kinds of shots but did not look in any kind of flow. It was up to Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli to rebuild the innings and steer India out of danger.
Virat Kohli looked pale at the start but as he got going, the timing and the flow of the shot came back and he looked in very good touch while he made a solid 59 from 44 balls. The sixes, in particular, were well timed and they were great to watch.
When Suryakumar Yadav walked to the wicket, he had an ice-cool attitude and a different demeanor about him. He strode to the crease and off the first ball he faced, he swept the bowler for four. The next ball, he did the same. This time he played the sweep a lot finer, which indicated that he had arrived.
Haroon Arshad had an expensive over when he had bowled his first and he was called on to wrap things up, he did not start well. First ball, Yadav went after him and swung over sweeper cover for six. The next ball, he went over extra cover and got the same result.
On the next ball, he went straight down the ground, and off the fifth ball, he got a maximum with the scoop shot using his fast hands. India ended at 192-2 in 20 overs.
Hong Kong bowled well till the 15th over in the 1st Innings. In the second innings, the batters came out intending to swing hard and that threw the Indian bowlers off the apple cart. Yasim Murtuza got sucked into Arshdeep Singh’s short ball ploy. Nizakat Khan was run out due to rocket throw by Ravindra Jadeja.
Babar Hayat scored a good-looking 41 from 35 balls as kept hitting the boundaries and kept the bowlers in check. The other batters also kept on playing shots till the end and this only gave India a slender victory of 40 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled well but the pacers were expensive for India, especially Arshdeep and Avesh who took a wicket each and gave away 44 and 53 runs respectively. Hong Kong could get 152-5 in their 20 overs.
Twitter was abuzz and let us take a look at the reactions here-
IND vs HK: Unorthodox Surya too hot for minnows Hong Kong as India make breezy entry into Asia Cup 2022's Super 4shttps://t.co/k6N3HFq5yn#AsiaCup2022 #IndvsHkg #SuryakumarYadav @surya_14kumar pic.twitter.com/KRRiUqpIMR
— Sports Tak (@sports_tak) August 31, 2022
@RajLaveena congratulations 🎊 india, won the match vs Hong Kong
— Vijendra Kumar (@Vijendr72755081) August 31, 2022
India win by 40 runs Vs Hong Kong. #AsiaCup2022 #INDvsHK
— Universal Whizkids (@quizmasterPG) August 31, 2022
4-0-53-1 that too vs Hong Kong
Can't understand Team India's obsession to play an extra pacer Avesh Khan when Ashwin can do a far better job.#AsiaCup2022
— Akshara (@Akshacriccrazy) August 31, 2022
Asia Cup 2022: India vs Hong Kong
India: 192/2
Hong Kong: 152/5
Zeeshan Ali: 26 Runs Not Out
Scott McKechnie: 16 Runs Not Out
India beat Hong Kong by 40 Runs #AsiaCup #AsiaCup2022 #AsiaCupT20 #INDvsHK #HKvsIND #INDvHK #HKvIND— Sumit Rane (@sumit_rane07) August 31, 2022
Just finished watching DP World Asia Cup: India vs Hong Kong.
India Beat Hong Kong By 40 Runs.
Congratulations to India.— The Sport Man🏏💪 ⚽⚾🏉🏎️🏍️ (@SportMan6666) August 31, 2022
India 🇮🇳 vs Hong Kong 🇭🇰 🏏
India 🇮🇳 won the match #INDvHK
The Indian batting 🏏 team has done very well. @klrahul Needs to get foam as soon as possible. & @ImRo45 you also need to get in form quickly. Happened today #INDvHK Our Indian team Concentrate on bowling 🙏.#Cricket— Ms Srikanth 🇮🇳 (@MsSrikanth1) August 31, 2022
Who called it India vs Hong Kong and not IPL Auction audition?
— gautam (@itzgautamm) August 31, 2022
It's India vs Hong Kong.
Don't bash me for this but I didn't know it was team and directly seeing them in Asia Cup🏃♀️😭— Shilpi Tripathi (@shilpitripathi1) August 31, 2022
Hong Kong team vs india be like.#INDvHK pic.twitter.com/GX7mJ0SYX0
— Komedi Wali (@vegetarianmee) August 31, 2022