Match Details
Chasing a target of 148 for the win, Hong Kong got off to a great
opening stand as the pair of the skipper Nizakat Khan and Yasim Murtaza put on 85
runs for the first wicket in 10.5 overs before the skipper fell for 39. Murtaza
and Babar Hayat put up 31 runs for the second wicket before Murtaza fell for 58
off 43 balls. Thereafter, Babar Hayat with an unbeaten 38 off 26 balls with 3 sixes including the winning shot alongside Kinchit Shah finished things off in style as Hong Kong made it through to the Asia Cup 2022.
Nothing much to ride home about for the United Arab Emirates bowling. A wicket apiece for Junaid Siddique, and Basil Hameed. The others tried their best and kept it tight, but in the end, it was a sub-par total as UAE were at least 20 runs short on that surface.
Earlier in the game, United Arab Emirates put into bat first by Nizakat Khan lost early wickets
to be reduced to 25-3 in no time. It was only due to skipper CP Rizwan’s 49 off
44 balls and Zawar Farid’s 41 off 27 balls that they got to some sort of
respectability. The United Arab Emirates lost their last five wickets for 10 runs
to be bowled out for 147 in 19.3 overs with only 5 extras given by the opposition.
Ehsan Khan was the pick of the bowlers for Hong Kong with
figures of 4-24 in 4 overs. Ayush Shukla picked up 3 wickets for 30 in 4 overs.
A couple of wickets for Aizaz Khan 2-8 in 9 balls that he bowled. Yasim Murtaza
bowled an excellent spell giving away just 17 runs in 4 overs with a wicket to
his name.
So, Hong Kong wins this by 8 wickets with an over to spare and makes it through to the Asia Cup 2022 starting from Saturday, the 27th of August onwards. Stay tuned for the post-match presentation ceremony that comes your way now.