Asia Cup 2022: India vs Hong Kong- IND Playing 11 vs HK (Predicted)

Asia Cup 2022: India vs Hong Kong- IND Playing 11 vs HK (Predicted). Defending champions India will face Hong Kong on 31st August, Wednesday at 7:30 pm IST after beating Pakistan by 5 wickets in their opening Asia Cup 2022 fixture. Hardik Pandya’s all-around brilliance powered India to a thrilling five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in an Asia Cup 2022 game on Sunday, 28th August 2022.

Hardik Pandya ended with figures of 3/25 in 4 overs while restricting Pakistan to 147 in 19.5 overs and then smashed 33 off 17 balls with the winning six in the last over bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz.

Ravindra Jadeja contributed with 35 off 29 balls. When India bowled, senior seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar had the best figures of 4 for 26. When India chased, former skipper Virat Kohli scored 35 off 34 balls. Naseem Shah was Pakistan’s best bowler with figures of 2/27.

Asia Cup 2022: India 148 for 5 (Kohli 35, Jadeja 35, Hardik 33*, Nawaz 3-33, Naseem 2-27) beat Pakistan 147 all out (Rizwan 43, Iftikhar 28, Dahani 16*, Bhuvneshwar 4-26, Hardik 3-25) by five wickets

Hong Kong finished above Kuwait, UAE, and Singapore in the qualification round. Hong Kong played against Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Singapore in the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifier. They won against all three teams and pipped Kuwait for the top spot. They were also part of the last Asia Cup in 2018 and were in the same group as India and Pakistan. Incredibly, they will once again join the same two teams in the coming edition in Group A.

India and Hong Kong have faced each other in 2 matches in ODI. Out of these 2 games, India has won both the games whereas Hong Kong hasn’t come out victorious even once. 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 in their previous Asia Cup 2018 encounter in the ODI format.

Shikhar Dhawan’s 14th ODI century had carried India to 285 for 7, with Hong Kong’s bowlers negating a powerful start to allow only 48 runs in the last ten overs. They carried that buoyant momentum with them when they came out to bat, with openers Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath putting on a 174-run partnership, the highest for Hong Kong in ODIs.

India, after being inserted, was going great guns, courtesy of a 116-run stand between Ambati Rayudu (60) and Shikhar Dhawan (127). The latter got to a brilliant ton and when he was out there, India looked like crossing 300.

Debutant pacer Khaleel Ahmed got rid of Nizakat Khan who missed out on a well-deserved ton. He finished with a three-for along with spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who ran through the middle order. He too ended with three wickets to his name. Shardul Thakur had an off day, conceding 10.25 runs/over.

Asia Cup 2018: India 285 for 7 (Dhawan 127, Rayudu 60, Kinchit 3-39, Ehsan Khan 2-65) beat Hong Kong 259 for 8 (Nizakat 92, Rath 73, Chahal 3-46, Khaleel 3-48, Kuldeep 2-42) by 26 runs

In their previous ODI encounter in Asia Cup 2008, MS Dhoni and his team marked the 25th anniversary of India’s World Cup triumph with an emphatic 256-run win over Hong Kong in Karachi to begin their Asia Cup campaign in style.

India rested Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma for this game, but they weren’t missed much as Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni helped themselves to centuries against a hapless bowling attack after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had built a platform, before spinner, Piyush Chawla flummoxed the Hong Kong batsmen.

Asia Cup 2008: India 374 for 4 (Dhoni 109*, Raina 101, Sehwag 78) beat Hong Kong 118 (Chawla 4-23) by 256 runs

Asia Cup 2022: India vs Hong Kong- IND Playing 11 vs HK (Predicted)

India may field the same XI in the 2nd Asia Cup 2022 match against Hong Kong unless they decide to rest some of their key players. In the game against Pakistan, the likes of Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Hooda, and Ravi Bishnoi were warming the bench.

Rohit Sharma

With a career average of 31.52, with four hundred and 27 fifties in T20I cricket, at a strike rate of about 140, Rohit Sharma’s potential to devastate a bowling attack is famous across world cricket. He returns to lead the Men in Blue in Asia Cup 2022 after missing the series against West Indies and Zimbabwe. 

Rohit Sharma is the highest run-getter in T20Is. He has amassed 3499 runs in 133 T20Is. He was dismissed after scoring 12 runs off 18 balls in the Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan. He scored at a strike rate of 66.67 and would want to amend his stats against minnows in Hong Kong.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul led India to a 3-0 sweep against Zimbabwe in the ODI series after being sidelined for quite a while as he underwent surgery and also contracted Covid-19. With scores of 1 and 30 in the two innings he played in Harare, his own batting form was patchy.

Earlier, KL Rahul ended the IPL 2022 season with the second-most runs – 635 in 14 innings at a strike rate of 135.38 – behind Jos Buttler, for new entrants Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He opened in Asia Cup 2022 opening fixture against Pakistan but was bowled without scoring. He was dismissed off the 1st ball by pacer Naseem Shah and would certainly be looking to return back to form against minnows Hong Kong.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is experiencing a dip in form, having just crossed 1000 days since his last century in any format of the game. However, with 3343 T20I runs at an average of 49.9, Virat Kohli is still a dangerous player that any side in the world would want to be included in their lineup.

He rested for the entire limited overs West Indies series and Zimbabwe ODIs after a poor time in England where he managed only 12 runs in 2 T20Is. He looked in fine touch scoring 35 off 34 balls in his 100th T20I Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan before being dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz while trying to increase the run rate. The match against Hong Kong may be ideal for him to end his century drought and be back in form.

Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav is ranked No.2 in the world for T20 batting for a reason. This year alone the batter has scored 446 runs at a strike rate of 182.79 (average of 37.17) and has the ability to accelerate scoring in the backend of a match or come out early to set the pace.

In 24 T20Is, he has amassed 690 runs averaging 36.32 at a strike rate of 172.07 which includes a ton and 5 fifties. His career-best 117 came in a losing cause in the England tour. He will look to continue his rich vein of form in Asia Cup 2022. He scored 18 off as many balls against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022 opening fixture before being bowled by Naseem Shah.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya, the MOM in the Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan, is also a genuine all-rounder, and offers a world-class pace option for India in the Asia Cup 2022, having taken 53 wickets over his T20I career at an economy of 8.23 (average of 26.7), besides scoring 867 runs in 68 T20Is averaging 24.08. He scored an unbeaten 33 off 17 balls and picked 3/25 in 4 overs against Pakistan.

The right-handed batter slammed 487 runs in 15 games in IPL 2022 and also scalped 8 wickets. Hitting 4 fifties, Hardik Pandya finished as the 4th highest run-getter in the season. Taking extra responsibility on the batting front at No.3-4, Hardik Pandya topped the runs chart for Gujarat Titans with 487 runs at an average of 44.27 with a strike rate of 131.26.

Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja scored 35 off 29 balls in the Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan being promoted up the order before losing his wicket to Mohammad Nawaz in the first ball of the last over. He also bowled 2 wicketless overs conceding 11 runs.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik revived his career aged 36/37 with an incredible campaign for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Given the difficult end-overs duties by RCB, finisher Dinesh Karthik nailed his role to perfection, scoring 330 runs at an eye-catching Strike Rate of 183.33 while averaging 55 with the bat in 16 games.

He has managed 592 runs in 48 T20Is averaging 28.19. On returning to the Indian team, he scored 55 from 27 balls in a T20I against Proteas and 41* from 19 balls against the Windies in a T20I. In the Asia Cup 2022 India’s opening fixture against Pakistan, he was preferred over Rishabh Pant and scored 1* off 1 ball besides taking 3 catches.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Being the most experienced pacer in the squad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack for India in Asia Cup 2022. Featuring for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022, he had picked 12 wickets in 14 games. He picked up 6 wickets against Proteas (averaging 14.17) and 4 wickets against England (averaging 6.25) this year. He was named Man of the Series on both occasions.

He has 77 scalps averaging 22.56 in 73 T20Is.  He will spearhead the pace attack in the Asia Cup 2022 opener as pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are injured and ruled out. In the Asia Cup 2022 against Pakistan, he picked 4/26 in 4 overs picking vital scalps of Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, and Naseem Shah.

Arshdeep Singh

In the 2022 IPL season, Punjab Kings’ pacer Arshdeep Singh took 10 wickets in 14 games with an economy rate of 7.70 and an average of 38.50.  He might not have many wickets in his credit, but the stats won’t reveal how he managed to make the death overs his own by delivering yorkers with great precision. The tall bowler is known to use his 6’3” frame to his advantage.

In 7 T20Is, he has picked 11 scalps averaging 14.91. In the recent Windies series, he picked 7 scalps in 5 T20Is averaging 16.14, and was Man of the Series. He played in the Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan as pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were injured and ruled out and picked 2/33 in 3.5 overs picking scalps of Mohammad Nawaz and Shahnawaz Dahani.

Yuzvendra Chahal

The right-arm spinner showcased his spin magic during IPL 2022, where he scalped the most 27 wickets to grab the Purple Cap playing for Rajasthan Royals. The leggie, who was shockingly left out for the previous 2021 World T20I, has not just knocked on the door, but broken it down with his performances for India.

Since his comeback, Yuzvendra Chahal has picked 16 wickets in 13 games, at an outstanding economy rate of just 7.06. He has 79 scalps in 63 T20Is averaging a mere 24.35 and is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is. He returned wicketless against Pakistan as all the Indian pacers picked up the Pakistan wickets to fall in Asia Cup 2022 and returned with figures of 0/32 in 4 overs.

Avesh Khan

The right-arm pacer was quite effective in IPL 2022, picking 18 wickets in 13 games for his new team Lucknow Super Giants. Avesh Khan’s match-winning figures of 2/17 in four overs helped the Indian team seal the 20-over series in the fourth match against the Windies. Before his impressive spell, the pacer conceded 31 in 2.2 overs in the second T20I and 47 in three overs in the third. He had picked only 1 scalp in the first 2 T20Is against Windies.

The pacer has 12 scalps in 14 T20Is averaging 30.75 but at a steep economy rate of 8.72. He played in the Asia Cup 2022 opener as pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were injured and ruled out. He returned with figures of 1/19 in 2 overs against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022. He picked up the scalp of Fakhar Zaman.