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Cricket

Asia Cup 2022: Pakistan to face Hong Kong in critical elimination match

Pakistan will face Hong Kong for the first time in the shortest format in their second and final Asia Cup T20 group stage match on Friday at the legendary Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Winning the match advances Pakistan to the Super 4 stage, when the top two teams from each group compete in a single league.

After narrowly losing to archrivals India in their opener, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and his top managers will be wary of becoming too complacent in a game that could have allowed them to rest their key players had the outcome on Sunday been the opposite.

Given Hong Kong’s recent record, the Pakistani squad will not have an easy time. Hong Kong have been in excellent form recently, winning the qualification competition and remaining unbeaten.
They came close to defeating India in the previous tournament, and Pakistan would be foolish to dismiss them.

Hong Kong will also be mindful that Pakistan has yet to win a T20I match this year. Pakistan has played two T20Is this year, both of which they have lost. The first came against Australia, while the second came against the men in blue in their opening encounter of the Asia Cup.

“It was a tight game against India, the morale is high in the camp and all our players are confident of doing better in the upcoming game,” Fakhar stated in a Pakistan Cricket Board news release.

“T20 is a short format which provides an equal opportunity for both teams to show-case their strengths. To aim for the Super 4 we have to ensure we minimise our errors and put up a good show.Hong Kong has played good cricket in the qualifiers but we will try to stick to our plans,” added Fakhar.

Fakhar, who has played 66 Twenty20 Internationals, was aware of Hong Kong’s strengths. After excelling in the Asia Cup qualifiers, the team demonstrated their batting prowess against India on Wednesday, although losing by 40 runs.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, would not consider their loss against India to be a significant setback because they took a lot of positives from the game. The bowlers were on their game until Suryakumar just erupted towards the finish to enable India post a massive score. Their hitters impressed, particularly Babur Hayat, who top-scored with 41 against the Indian spinners.

Watch out for the batting combo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, as well as Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, who were excellent with the ball against India. Babur Hayat has been scoring at a high pace for Hong Kong recently, and the squad will rely on him for fast runs. Ehsan Khan, their workhorse bowler, was excellent against India, throwing out yorkers at whim in the dying stages. As is customary in Sharjah, the weather is predicted to be scorching. Sharjah’s pitch has been known to aid slower ballers, yet the smaller size of the ground may work in the batsman’s favour.

 

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