India cruise to easy victory

India recorded an easy 40-run victory over Hong Kong in their Asia Cup cricket fixture and entered the Super Four Stage at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

India made the highest team total in the tournament so far with 192 runs for 2 wickets while Hong Kong managed to get 152 for 5 wickets in 20 overs.

India batted first and posted a challenging total of 192 for 2 wickets in 20 overs while the Hong Kong bowlers were under pressure from the start. The Indian openers, K.L. Rahul (36) and skipper Rohit Sharma (21) made an opening 38-run stand in 4.5 overs. the experienced Virat Kholi and Suryakumar Yadav, the third wicket pair, added 98 runs in their third-wicket unbroken partnership to build up their total.

Kholi hit 59 in 44 balls with a boundary while Shurakumar Yadav played a brisk innings of 68 off just 26 balls. He hit 6 fours and 6 sixes producing a brilliant exhibition of top-class batting.

Earlier, Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan chose to bowl against India, who made one change to their XI, resting Hardik Pandya and bringing in Rishabh Pant for their second group game in Dubai.

This is Hong Kong’s first match at the 2022 Asia Cup. They made it to the tournament by winning all three of their games in the qualifying event in Oman.

Chief scores:

India: 192 for 2 wickets in 20 overs (K.L Rahul 36, Rohit Sharma 21, Virat Kholi 59*, Suryakumar Yadav 68*, Ayush Shukla 1/29, Mohammed Ghazanfar 1/19)

Hong Kong: 152 for 5 wickets in 20 overs (Baber Hayat 30, Kinchit Shah 30, Zeeshan Ali 26, Buvneshwar Kumar 1/15)