India sealed their berth comfortably in the Super 4’s just after their victory over Hong Kong by 40 runs on September 2. The target set by team India was way too high and tough for Hong Kong to conquer. The match was organized in Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh are the playing 11 squad of India for the Asia Cup whereas Hong Kong Asia Cup playing squad included Nizakat Khan, Babar Hayat, Yasim Murtaza, Kinchit Shah, Scott McKechnie, Haroon Arshad, Aizaz Khan, Ayush Shukla, Zeeshan Ali, Ehsan Khan and Mohammad Ghazanfar. Team India has made one change to their playing 11, Rishabh Pant has replaced Hardik Pandya.
Hong Kong won the toss and chose to bowl first in the game. Team India batted first with scintillating half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. Suryakumar Yadav produced the T20I classic in Dubai on Wednesday as he hit 6 fours and 6 sixes in his 26-ball unbeaten stay in the middle and scored 68 scintillating runs to help India post a dynamic 192/2 against Hong Kong. He shared an unbeaten partnership with Virat Kohli as the duo helped India bounce back from a slow match starting. In reply to India’s 192/2 score, Hong Kong were only able to stretch it out to 152/5 in their 20 overs in the match. Rohit Sharma made it seven wins out of seven as a skipper in the Asia Cup after India outclassed Hong Kong.
Pakistan booked their space in the Super Four with a rather easy win over Hong Kong in their second and final Group A game in the ongoing Asia Cup. Pakistan outclassed Hong Kong by a dynamic margin of 155 runs to qualify for Super Four. After the big win on Friday in Sharjah, Pakistan have set-up a rematch with India in Dubai on September 4, Sunday. The two arch rivals are all set for their second match in Asia Cup with each other on Sunday. The two teams had their first match together last Sunday, 29 August. India won that thrilling match against their rivals Pakistan. Pakistan has become the fourth and the final team to qualify for Super 4 after India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
The Super 4 will be played in the round-robin format, hence each team will face the other three once and the top two teams by the end of the six matches will face each other in the final. India followed suit, beating Pakistan and Hong Kong at first in their two matches as they became the first team from Group A to make it to the next level.
