Riding on brilliant performance by bowlers, Pakistan beat Hong Kong by 8 wickets
Pakistan beat Hong Kong by 8 wickets to make a flying start in Asia Cup here on Sunday.
After the brilliant performance by their bowlers, Imam ul Haq (50 of 69 balls) stars with bat along with Babar Azam (33 of 26 balls) to lead Pak home in 23.4 overs.
Opener Fakhar Zaman scored 24 while Shoaib Mailk remains not out on 9.
Earlier, Seamer Usman Khan picked up three wickets in an over as Pakistan dismissed minnows Hong Kong for a paltry 116 in a group A match of the Asia Cup ODI tournament here on Sunday.
Usman (3/19) was the highest wicket-taker, while Shadab Khan (2/31) and Hasan Ali (2/19) snapped two wickets apiece and Faheem Ashraf accounted for one as Pakistan thoroughly exposed the weakness of Hong Kong, who won the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier to make it to the tournament.
Kinchit Shah (26) and Aizaz Khan (27) were the main scorers for Hong Kong, while skipper Anshuman Rath contributed 19 as they couldn't negotiate the top quality bowling from Pakistan.
Electing to bat, Hong Kong failed to put up a resistance, losing wickets in regular intervals to end up with a lowly score.
It started with a run-out as Nizakat Khan (13) walked back to the pavillion after failing to make ground with Shadab Khan knocking the stumps off from point in the 5th over.
Skipper Anshuman Rath (19) was the next to go when he was caught behind by wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed off Faheem Ashraf as Hong Kong slipped to 32 for 2 in the ninth over.
Hasan Ali then got into action, removing Christopher Carter (2) cheaply in the 14th over. Looking to chip it over extra cover, Carter ended up giving an easy catch to Imam-ul-Haq as Hong Kong lost their third wicket.
Leg-spinner Shadab Khan then struck twice in three balls -- dismissing Babar Hayat (7) and Ehsan Khan (0) -- as Hong Kong lost half their side in 16.3 overs.
Hayat couldn't pick up Shadab's googly and was stumped by a huge margin by Sarfraz when the batsman danced down the pitch. One ball later, another googly earned Shadab another wicket as Ehsan was trapped in front of wicket.
Kinchit and Aizaz then shared a crucial 53-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take Hong Kong closs to the 100-mark.
In the 31st over, Usman Khan picked up three wickets in five deliveries, removing Aizaz, SS Mckechnie (0) and Tanwir Afzal (0) to further reduce Hong Kong to 97 for 8.
Last specialist batsman Kinchit too was back to the hut after he hit a Hasan Ali ball to Shadab at backward point.
Ehsan Nawaz (9) and Nadeem Ahmed then took Hong Kong past the 100-run mark before the former was run out to be bundled out for 116.
Do or die for sl
After losing to Bangladesh by 137 runs in their first game, Sri Lanka will face tough Afghanistani challenge on Monday to remain alive in contention for their sixth Asia Cup title.
While Sri Lanka will come into this game on the back of brutal thumping by Bangladesh in tournament opener. Their opponent Afghanistan will aim to surprise Sri Lanka and boost up their chances of making into the next round.
