Suryakumar Yadav scored a blistering half-century before the bowlers displayed combined effort to hand their side a resounding 40 runs victory over Hong Kong and confirmed their place in the Super 4s of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
Set to chase a massive 193, Hong Kong fell 40 runs short of glory as the side finished at 152/2 in the allotted 20 overs.
Hong Kong had a poor start to their run chase as they lost their opener Yasim Murtaza for a combined score of a mere 12 in the second over.
Skipper Nizakat Khan and their top batter Babar Hayat then anchored the run chase with an important 39-run partnership for the second wicket before the captain, who was struggling to get going fell victim to a run-out in the sixth over.
Babar’s stay at the crease also remained brief following the dismissal as he walked back to the pavilion after adding 23 runs for the third wicket with Kinchit Shah. The right-handed batter top-scored for the side with a valiant 41 off 35 deliveries, laced with three boundaries and two sixes.
The side then lost two more wickets in quick successions, which halted their chances to seal an upset victory. Shah remained the second top-scorer for his side with 30.
Wicket-keeper batter Zeeshan Ali remained unbeaten with his quick 26 but his efforts too, could not inspire Hong Kong to victory.
For India, Avesh Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck out a batter each.
After being put into bat first by Hong Kong, India enjoyed a late onslaught from Yadav and an anchoring knock from Kohli, which powered them to a massive 192/2 in 20 overs.
The men in blue were off to an unwanted start as the side lost their captain Rohit Sharma cheaply for 21 in the fifth over.
Following the early horror, newly-arrived Kohli joined hands with KL Rahul and added 56 runs for the second wicket.
Kohli was looking solid amid the stand, while Rahul was struggling to score at a quick pace and in the end, fell victim to Mohammad Ghazanfar in the 13th. He scored a snail-paced 36 off 39 deliveries.
Kohli and Suryakumar then gave a much-needed boost to their side as they added 98 runs in the last seven overs. Kohli played an anchoring knock of an unbeaten 59 off 44 deliveries, laced with a boundary and three sixes.
Suryakumar, on the other hand, top-scored with a quickfire 68 off a mere 26 deliveries; smashing six boundaries and as many sixes.
For Hong Kong, Ghazanfar and Ayush Shukla managed to make one scalp each.
India 192/2 (20) Babar Hayat 41
Hong Kong 152/5 (20) Suryakumar Yadav 68*
India won by 40 runs
Rohit Sharma: We batted pretty well to start with, got to a very good score. Came out and bowled reasonably well, we could have done slightly better with the ball. (SKY) The kind of innings he played today, the words will be short. We have seen that with him every now and then. He comes up with suck kinds of knocks.
He just comes out and bats fearlessly which is what the team expects from him. Some of the shots he played today, those are not written anywhere in the book. It was very pleasing to watch. Shot selection was also crucial. We know he can play all around the park.
We have also informed the group about this as well. Most of the guys are ready to take the opportunity and be ready to bat wherever required. That’s the flexibility we need. We’ll take those chances. We are going to try and use the right match-ups.
Nizakat Khan: The way we started with the ball, until 13th over we were amazing. Our fielding was amazing as well. But we slipped after that. The way Suryakumar batted, it was good to watch. It was a good opportunity for all the boys. We were away for a long time, credit goes to boys and I am really proud of them. We are gonna sit down tomorrow, we’ll have a look at our death bowling. We will improve.
