The fourth game of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 will pit India against Hong Kong. The team lead by Rohit Sharma defeated Pakistan by five wickets and is off to a strong start in the continental cup. Hong Kong earned the chance to go to the main event by winning the Asia Cup qualifiers and will look onto give their best performance against the giants placed in the group.
India will try to work on its opening partnership. KL Rahul has returned to international scenes after long and fans will expect him to play like he does, effortlessly. The middle order also has to play for longer. The pressure against Hongkong will be low and team should try to capitalise on that and form big partnerships.
As far as the bowling is concerned, the discipline that the bowlers showed in the initial overs against Pakistan was lacking in the death overs. The intensity of the game should not die even if the opponent is in deep waters. Pakistan did make a comeback in the last few overs and Indian bowlers should keep it in mind they don’t go easy towards the end.
Hongkong turned heads when they won game against UAE who were favorites to qualify for the Asia Cup. The team has not much international cricket but they performed exceedingly well in the qualifiers. They are placed in the group of giants and will look on to ensure they give them a good competitions and never let the match take a one sided turn.
How the pitch will play?
The game will take place at Dubai International Stadium. The pitch here is fairly even and offers both bowlers and batters a significant amount of help. Because of its sluggish nature, spinners have good traction. The average score is 140.
What to expect in middle?
As opposed to the previous game, if India bats first, we should expect some more action. A score of 170+ should be easy for the team that has legends in its batting order. A 60+ score in powerplay, 50+ in death overs is expected.
For Hongkong, it will a fairly new experience for the team as well as us the viewers to see Hongkong compete with India. We can expect a total under 140 if they bat first.
Players to Watch out for:
The Indian team gave an allround performance but we could easily see how Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh stole the show. KL Rahul should do well in the second game while we can expect more action from Suryakumar Yadav.
Scott McKechnie, Babar Hayat, Yasim Murtaza and Ehsan Khan should lead the pack for Hongkong.
India vs Hong Kong Probable Playing XIs:
IND: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
HK: Yasim Murtaza, Nizakat Khan(C), Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Scott Mckechnie(WK), Zeeshan Ali(WK), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar, Ayush Shukla
India vs Hong Kong: Who will Win?
The question doesn’t have many layers. Hong Kong is a new team while Team India has been playing cricket ever since. With the shortage of infrastructure and time to practice the game, Hongkong lags behind quite far against India. India are clear favorites but we all expect a good fight from Hong Kong.
