Asia Cup 2022: Match 6 - Pakistan vs Hong Kong: Who Said What

Pakistan beat Hong Kong by a big margin of 155 runs in a very important 2022 Asia Cup clash on Friday, September 2. Both the teams needed a victory to reach the Super-Four round after their defeat against India in their first respective match. As expected Pakistan proved too strong for the 20th-ranked ICC team in every department and easily reached the next round with a dominating win at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Hong Kong skipper Nizakat Khan won the toss and surprisingly chose to bowl first at a batting-friendly surface at Sharjah. Both sides named the same starting eleven as in their previous game for this crucial fixture. The veteran Hong Kong spinner Ehsan Khan shocked Pakistani fans by dismissing skipper Babar Azam on just nine runs in the third over of the innings. The Hong Kong bowling unit was impressive with an economical display in the first half of the first innings while restricting the Men in Green to 64/1 in 10 overs.

Pakistani stalwarts Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman struggled to accelerate the innings but saved the wickets in the middle overs. But both the batters changed their gears with just ten overs remaining and formed a brilliant 116-run partnership for the second wicket. Ehsan removed Zaman in the 17th over to give his side some hopes in the death overs.

But Rizwan and Khushdil Shah played attacking cricket with big hits all over the stadium. Rizwan remained unbeaten on 78 runs off 57 balls with the help of six fours and one six. Khushdil (35*) smashed three straight sixes on innings' last three balls to guide Pakistan to a mammoth 193/2 total in 20 overs. For Hong Kong, Ehsan took all the two wickets while conceding only 28 runs in four overs.

Shadab-Nawaz duo dominate Hong Kong with combined seven wickets

Hong Kong started well with 15 runs in two overs without losing any wickets. They seemed confident about the mountain chase but the Pakistani speedster Naseem Shah took two wickets in the third over and Hong Kong never recovered from the collapse. Naseem dismissed Nizakat on the first ball of his second over and bowled out Babar Hayat on a duck on the fifth bowl of the same over. Shahnawaz Dahani dismissed Yasim Murtaza on just two runs with Khushdil taking an easy catch.

Babar introduced spin attack after the powerplay overs with Shadab Khan taking the wicket of Aizaz Khan on his second delivery in the sixth over. Then both Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz took wickets in each of their next overs and Hong Kong were bowled out on 38/10 in just 10.4 overs with Shadab taking the last two wickets. Shadab took four wickets and Nawaz grabbed three wickets for Pakistan.

Pakistan finished in the second position in Group A and will next face India in their first match of the Super-Four round on coming Sunday (September 4).

Losing Captain, Nizakat Khan:

Lots of learnings from these two games. Credit to Pakistan for the way they played. Shot making, I must admit, was poor. We'll take back the professionalism of the two teams.

Winning Captain, Babar Azam:

Very nice victory for us. The wicket was keeping low, but the way we batted and finished was outstanding. We want the top-order batters to stay till the end, and the lower ones to bat around them. The way Naseem and Dahani have debuted, they have shown brilliant performances.

Player of the Match, Mohammad Rizwan:

Most important for us is to adjust to the conditions even if it is T20 cricket. The ball was keeping low. We tried hitting, but it wasn't coming off. Then we charged down, keeping in mind the ball was staying low. I believe in hard work. Being a senior player, you have to take responsibility. You have to play according to the team, and there will be pressure. I request everyone to help the people of Pakistan, who are in trouble [due to the floods].