1866dThe Report by Saurabh Somani

Khaleel helps India overcome big Hong Kong scare

Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath put up 174 for the opening stand in a chase of 286 but India's bowlers pulled things back after Shikhar Dhawan's 127 had set things up

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

S Dhawan
S Dhawan
127(120) 15x4 - 2x6
Control %94%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 21 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
12 6 13 6 39 16 11 24
Nizakat Khan
Nizakat Khan
92(115) 12x4 - 1x6
Control %76%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 17 runs
  • 4x4 - 0x6
25 13 1 12 8 4 11 18

Best performances - Bowlers

KD Shah
KD Shah
O9
M0
R39
W3
Eco4.33
RHB
OFFLEG
2W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
YS Chahal
YS Chahal
O10
M0
R46
W3
Eco4.60
RHB
OFFLEG
1W1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Sreshth Shah

END OF OVER:
50 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | HKG: 259/8 (27 runs required, RR: 5.18)

  • Tanwir Afzal12 (10b)
  • Ehsan Nawaz2 (3b)
  • Khaleel Ahmed10-0-48-3
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar9-0-50-0

11.52pm And that's all from us at ESPNcricinfo. Hope you enjoyed your coverage. See you in less than 15 hours for the big one: India v Pakistan. Till then, it's goodnight and goodbye from us. On behalf of Varun Shetty, this is Sreshth Shah signing off.

11.45pm Time for the presentation.

Shikhar Dhawan, the Man of the Match: "I was working hard as always, and was being patient knowing that runs were going to come. I wasn't taking extra risk today, was playing on the merit of the ball. And they were bowling in right areas. The pitch was a bit slow too."

Rohit Sharma: "Eventually to win the game is important. We always knew it wasn't going to be easy. We had an inexperienced bowling line-up, but that's no excuse. The mistake was that we could've attacked a bit more. It's a mistake, and that's a learning curve. They pulled off the victory, and I have no doubt for the future as well. Didn't doubt ourselves at any stage, but credit to Hong Kong. Great partnership by their openers, and for our bowling curve, it was great to handle those situations. We will be put under pressure at times, and it's important to handle it. The positives were Shikhar's innings. He had a long tour of England, and was determined to bat in those conditions. It wasn't easy. And Ambati Rayudu as well. Playing after a long time and got a fifty. And ofcourse, Dinesh and Kedar finished off well. Khaleel is a very exciting player. He showed he didn't start well, but was good enough to come back well. If you can't do well for 2-3 overs it's okay, but you should find a way to come back, and he really found that way, and found his rewards. We know we're playing back-to-back games, but no problem. That's why we rested some players for today."

hari : "Couldn't there be a better scheduling with India playing HK yesterday and Sri Lanka playing Afghanistan today? India should have gotten a day's rest which they don't have now!!" -- no! Because then Afghanistan and Bangladesh would've ended up playing back-to-back games. It's a Catch-22 situation

Rajat Saxena: "@Sreshth Shah - I don't see Khaleel playing tomorrow. Are you sure you will drop Bhuvi for one not so good performance? It is a big gamble. The eleven for tomorrow is obvious Rohit, Dhawan, Rahul, Rayadu/Karthik, Jadhav, Dhoni, Pandya, Kumar, Kuldeep, Chahal,Bumrah."

11.32pm It may have been a 26-run win but at the halfway stage of the second innings, the India camp looked mightily worried. Anshy Rath and Nizakat Khan's 174-run first-wicket stand sent shivers down the Indian fans, but the strangle from the spinners - including Jadhav - and a terrific back-end spell from the debutant Khaleel ensures they're through to the super-four stage. Hong Kong, though, can walk back with their head held high as they now shake hands with the Indians. It wasn't just a decent show with the bat from the Associate side, but also a great end to their innings with the ball as well. Remember, they conceded less than 50 runs off India's final ten overs to restrict them to 285. Hong Kong have given a much better show than two days ago, when they were bowled out for 116, and there's much that can be expected from them.

Here's their captain Anshy Rath. "We are proud, but it's bittersweet," he says. "We should've probably won it, but lost few too many wickets in the middle during key times. Credit to the India bowlers for sticking with their plans. Going into the tournament we had no pressure, and we wanted to play with a smile on our faces. It would've been nice if we rolled over the best team in the world, but I'm super proud of the boys. Nizakat's innings at the top was great. He batted at No. 4 in the qualifiers, but he's delivered as the opener. And against the best white-ball side in the world, we showed the kind of cricket we can play. Our bowlers stuck out in the heat, and we pulled India to under 300."

Anesh: "It may have been a 26-run win but scoreline doesn't say how well Hong Kong fought ...[like Virat Kohli / Ravi S says]"

Jai: "Srilanka scored only 282 runs in total in Asia Cup !! Just Saying .... !!"

Salim: "Hong Kong has lost the match but the hearts of Indian cricket lovers !!!!

Nimish: "Has Khaleel Ahmad impressed Rohit Sharma enough to be given a thought ahead of team selection for the big match against Pakistan? " -- Definitely has. I expect either Shardul or Bhuvi to be replaced by Bumrah

Vishnu Raj: "This game reminds me of a game from 2003 world cup where John Davison opening for Canada in Centurion stunned the West Indies with the fastest hundred in a world cup match at that time only for the other batsman following him give the advantage back to Windies.That was a memorable innings.Lara then had his bit of fun by carting Barry Seebaran for 26 runs in a over."

Dr. Tejas: "Khaleel now has same debut figure as ZAK, India's most successfull left arm seamer, If only khaleel wil have same successful career, remains to be seen, Good Luck"

49.6
0
Ahmed to Tanwir Afzal, no run, yorker just outside off, and he can't get bat to ball! Dhoni collects and India win by 26 runs!
49.5
1
Ahmed to Ehsan Nawaz, 1 run, good length on middle, and worked away to third man for a single

Jishnu: "Khaleel Ahmed finishes his quota of overs on a day when India's main stream pacers do not. A great debut for the young man with wickets too!! Living up to the hopes."

49.4
0
Ahmed to Ehsan Nawaz, no run, back of a length outside off, and the cut has been missed by Nawaz. Through to the keeper
49.3
1
Ahmed to Tanwir Afzal, 1 run, full on middle, and that's been tapped off the back foot to cover
49.2
1
Ahmed to Ehsan Nawaz, 1 run, full on leg stump, and that's been wedged away to the off side
49.1
W
Ahmed to Ehsan Khan, OUT, that's his third wicket! Slower ball on middle, and he tries to muscle this towards the leg side. Takes a top-edge and Khaleel calls for the catch near short mid on

Ehsan Khan c & b Ahmed 22 (25b 0x4 0x6) SR: 88.00

Hong Kong 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st174Nizakat KhanAnshuman Rath
2nd1Nizakat KhanBabar Hayat
3rd16Babar HayatC Carter
4th8KD ShahBabar Hayat
5th28Ehsan KhanKD Shah
6th1Ehsan KhanAizaz Khan
7th12Ehsan KhanSS McKechnie
8th16Ehsan KhanTanwir Afzal
9th3Tanwir AfzalEhsan Nawaz

Men's T20 Asia Cup

Super Four
TeamMWLPTNRR
SL33060.701
PAK3214-0.279
IND31221.607
AFG3030-2.006
Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND22041.096
PAK21123.811
HKG2020-4.875
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
AFG22042.467
SL2112-2.233
BAN2020-0.576