Hong Kong is the opponent of India-Pakistan in the Asia Cup

 

                                   cricket

Hong Kong has made it to the main stage of the Asia Cup after defeating the United Arab Emirates by 8 wickets.  In this T20 edition of the tournament, the team will play against India and Pakistan in Group 'A'.

 Three teams from Group 'B' have already been finalized - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.  This tournament of continental excellence with six teams will begin on Saturday.  Hong Kong will play their first match on August 31 against India.

Hong Kong were joined by three other teams in the Asia Cup qualifiers—United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Singapore.  Each team faces each other once.  Hong Kong-UAE and Kuwait-Singapore meet in the last two qualifying matches on Wednesday night.  Hong Kong, led by Nizakat Khan, were leading the race for the title after winning the previous two matches.  Kuwait's chances hinged on a big win against Singapore and an Emirates win against Hong Kong.

Kuwait bowled out Singapore for 104 runs with 73 balls in hand and won by a huge margin of 6 wickets, but the Emirates could not stop Hong Kong.  Hong Kong captain Nizakat won the toss and sent Emirates into bat in this match at the Al Amarat Stadium in Oman.  Emirates scored 147 runs batting in 19.3 overs.  Captain CP Rizwan scored 49 off 44 balls and Zafar Farid scored 41 runs off 27 balls.  Right-arm pacer Ehsan Khan took 4 wickets for 24 runs for Hong Kong.  Off-spinner Ayush Shukla took 3 wickets for 30 runs.

Hong Kong only needed a win to advance to the main stage of the Asia Cup, there was no extra equation.  In pursuit of runs, Nizakat and Nasim Mortaza scored 85 runs together in the opening pair, finally the team ranked 23rd in the T20 ranking reached the target after losing only 2 wickets in 19 overs.

Skipper Nizakat got out with 39 runs off 39 balls but the other opener Yaseem Mortaza stopped with 58 runs off 43 balls.  Right-handed batsman Babar Hayat remained unbeaten at number three with 38 runs off 26 balls.

 Hong Kong will play two matches in the group stage of the Asia Cup.  The first is against India in Dubai.  The second is against Pakistan on September 2 in Sharjah.