Sharjah 2 Sep : Brilliant knocks from Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman and Khushdil Shah helped Pakistan to a thumping 193/2 victory over Hong Kong in a must-win Asia Cup Group A match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.Despite Rizwan (78 not out) and Zaman (53) hitting fifty, Pakistan were in danger of scoring an unlucky score on a sluggish, sticky Sharjah pitch, as they had in the 116/1 position in 15 overs.
However, Rizwan, Zaman and Khushdil (35 not out of 15 balls) scored the score to 77 runs in the final five overs, resulting in an impressive score for Pakistan.
In the final ten overs they scored a staggering 129 runs, after having been 64/1 at the halfway point.
The team was also helped by the fact that Hong Kong bowling gave away 18 extra wickets and 17 wides despite having a good start in the first 10 overs.
Off-spinner Ehsan Khan struck a huge blow when captain Babar Azam danced down the pitch to smack him in the leg side.
However, the ball, which was slower in speed, slid into him and was unable to stay down and gave Ehsan a low grab on his right.Zaman began to make a splash with the first of a pair of goals against Haroon Arshad and Rizwan scored two boundaries off the off-side of Ayush Shukla, pushing the scoring rate of Pakistan.
After the power-play phase, Rizwan and Fakhar struggled to break free from the shackles when the low and slow quality of the pitch became apparent and required strike rotation.The shots were not timed correctly because both batters were unable to accurately time their shots, with Hong Kong bowlers showing discipline in their lines and lengths.
The first indications of shift in the pace of Pakistan occurred when Rizwan was seen dancing down the field and lifted Mohammad Ghazanfar straight down the ground to score six.He then got the ball to the boundary with Ghazanfar before achieving fifty on the very first ball of the 14th over, played by Yasim Murtaza.
Zaman took part in the boundary-hitting action by hitting Ghazanfar over deep mid-wicket to score six and then slapping Murtaza through the extra cover to secure the goal.He made his fifty-fifty while dancing across the court and swinging the Murtaza shot that was high over the deep mid-wicket.
Ehsan had a major breakthrough in the opening ball of his second spell , when Zaman took an extremely short full-length toss that went straight to point.leaving for 53 off just 41 balls before breaking a massive 116-run stand of 80 balls to take the second wicket.
Khushdil put the pressure on Hong Kong bowlers by hitting a six in mid-off off a misfired Shukla.The left-hander sent Aizaz Khan off the field after putting on the finishing touches to Pakistan’s innings, smashing four stunning sixes over long-on, deep mid-wicket straight across the field, and small leg zones in the fourth over, which yielded 29 runs.
Brief scores: Pakistan 193/2 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 78 not out, Fakhar Zaman 53; Ehsan Khan 2-28) against Hong Kong
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