Pakistan Open Their Campaign With a Clinical Win Over Hong Kong

Pakistan 120 for 2 (Imam 50*, Ehsan Khan 2-34) beat Hong Kong 116 (Usman 3-18, Hasan 2-19, Shadab 2-31) by eight wickets

Dubai: Pakistan began the Asia Cup with a thumping 8 wicket win over Hong Kong played at Dubai International Stadium, Dubai on Sunday.

This was a group A match. As expected, it was a great performance by Pakistan who dismissed Hong Kong for a low total and then chased down the target with ease.

Hong Kong captain Anushman Rath won the toss and decided to bat first. Nizakat Khan and Captain Anushman Rath began started off positively putting on 17 runs for opening wicket before Nizakat Khan was run out.

Hong Kong could only score 32 runs for 2 wickets in the first 10 overs. After the power play overs, Pakistan kept picking wickets reducing Hong Kong to 44 for 5.

Kinchit Shah and Aizaz Khan added 53 runs for the 6th wicket before Usman Khan picked 3 wickets in an over.

Aizaz Khan was the top scorer for Hong Kong with 27 while Shah made 26.

Pakistan bowled out Hong Kong for 116 in 37.1 overs. Usman Khan was the pick of bowlers with 3 for 19 in 7.3 overs, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan taking 2 wickets each, Faheem Ashraf with 1.

Chasing 117 for the win, Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam UL Haq started on an aggressive note adding 41 runs in just 8.1 overs.

Ehsan Khan got the wicket of left-handed batsman Zaman for 24.

At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan scored 46 for 1. Babar Azam and Imam UL Haq showed class with their batting with both of them adding 52 runs for the 2nd wicket. Ehsan Khan picked the wicket of Babar Azam for 33.

Imam-ul-Haq reached his half-century off 69 balls. Shoaib Malik hit the winning runs as Pakistan won the match with ease by 8 wickets with 158 balls to spare. Ehsan Khan was the most impressive bowler for Hong Kong with 2 wickets for 34 runs.

Now, Sri Lanka will take on Afghanistan in match 3 of the tournament to be played Abu Dhabi.