Sharjah 2 September : Pakistan entered Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2022 with an 155-run defeat of Hong Kong in what was a knockout game in Group A of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.After brilliant shots from Mohammad Rizwan (78 not out off 57 balls), Fakhar Zaman (53 off 41 balls) and Khushdil Shah (35 not out of 15 balls) led Pakistan to a staggering 193/2.Hong Kong were blown away by spinners and pacers to be taken out to 38 in 10.5 overs that was their lowest T20I total against a Full Member team and gave the Babar Azam-led team their biggest victory through scores in T20Is.
The majority of the Hong Kong batters got into double figures, excluding additional wickets (10) and their batting scorecards looked like a mobile number.Spin twins Leg-spinner Shadab Khan (4/8) and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (3/7) shared seven wickets among themselves, and pacers Naseem Shah and Shahnawaz Dahani snatched 2/7 and 1/7 respectively.
The victory also means that Pakistan is now eligible for the Super Four stage from Group A, while Hong Kong crashed out of the tournament.It also sets the stage for a second India-Pakistan battle in the Super Four match in Dubai on Sunday, exactly one week after the two teams met in the first match of Group A of the competition.
Despite Rizwan and Zaman hitting fifty, Pakistan were in danger of being unable to score an unlucky score on a sticky, slow Sharjah pitch.They scored just 116/1 in 15 overs.
However, Rizwan, Zaman and Khushdil scored the score to 77 runs in the final five overs to secure an impressive score for Pakistan.
In the final ten overs, they scored an impressive 129 runs, despite being at 64/1 at the halfway point.
The team was also helped by the fact that Hong Kong bowling gave away 18 extras which included 17 wides, despite having a great start in the first 10 overs.
Off-spinner Ehsan Khan struck a huge blow when captain Babar Azam danced down the pitch to hit his leg side.
The ball, however, being slower in speed, slid into his body and failed to stay down and gave Ehsan an extremely low shot to his right.
Zaman started to get going with the first of a pair of boundaries in the match against Haroon Arshad and Rizwan scored two boundaries on the off-side of Ayush Shukla to increase the scoring rate of Pakistan.
Post-power-play, 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.There were also mistimed shots 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 the shift in the pace of Pakistan were evident when Rizwan was seen dancing down the field and lifted Mohammad Ghazanfar straight down the ground to score six.He then got an extra boundary from Ghazanfar before achieving fifty with the ball of the 14th over from Yasim Murtaza.
Zaman joined the boundary-smashing party by throwing Ghazanfar over the mid-wicket in deep for six, and then slapped Murtaza through the extra cover to secure an extra boundary.He made his fifty-fifty while dancing across the court and swinging the Murtaza shot high above the deep mid-wicket.
Ehsan had a major breakthrough with the first ball of his second spell , when Zaman took the lower full toss straight straight to point, escaping for 53 off just 41 balls, and breaking a massive 116-run stand from 80 balls in the second wicket.
Khushdil put the pressure on Hong Kong bowlers by hitting a six-over mid-off off a misfired Shukla.
The left-hander sent Aizaz Khan off the field to apply the finishing touches to Pakistan’s innings, smashing four stunning sixes over long-on, deep mid-wicket straight into the middle, and the fine leg areas in the third over, which yielded 29 runs.
In response, Nizakat Khan began well by chopping the driving square of the wicket off Shahnawaz Dahani.
However, Naseem Shah was able to take off the ball in the following over, hitting straight to the cover.After four balls, Shah castled Babar Hayat to score the four-ball duck.
Another setback followed for Hong Kong as Dahani bounced out Yasim Murtaza, and mid-on sprinted forward to finish the low catch.
Then, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz took over to take on Hong Kong’s game with the bat.Shadab was a shrew with his googly and took out Aizaz Khan as well as Haroon Arshad.Nawaz however, snubbed Kinchit Shah, Scott McKechnie and Zeeshan Ali.
After the break for drinks Shadab’s wrong’un smashed Ayush Shukla and then imprisoned Mohammad Ghazanfar lbw to complete an unstoppable beating of Hong Kong and enter the Super Four stage in style.
Brief score: Pakistan 193/2 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 78 not out, Fakhar Zaman 53; Ehsan Khan 228) defeated Hong Kong 38 all out in 10.4 overs (Nizakat Khan 8, Shadab Khan 4-8, Mohammad Nawaz 3-5) by 155 runs
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