Asian Games 2023: Hong Kong’s cricket captain looks for ‘learnings’ from Pakistan loss
- Pakistan ease to a 68-run win over Hong Kong in Tuesday’s quarter-final in Hangzhou, as india beat Nepal
- ‘If you say this is our second team, the boys have done really well. Every game we’ve had some learnings,’ Nizakat Khan says
Aamir Jamal rescued his side from a perilous position with the bat and Khusdil Shah then stifled Hong Kong with the ball, as Pakistan eased to a 68-run win on Tuesday in their Asian Games quaarter-final.
Struggling at 109 for seven on a turning pitch, Aamir bludgeoned 41 off just 16 balls to help his side to 160 in their 20 overs, and Hong Kong were then bowled out for 92 in 18.5 overs.
Shah took three wickets, including the prized scalp of Babar Hayat, and conceded just 13 runs from his four overs in the T20 quarter-final clash in Hangzhou.
He also accounted for middle-order pair Akbar Khan (6) and Nasrulla Rana (0) as Hong Kong collapsed to 62 for seven, having been 29 for one with Hayat (29) providing his usual impetus early on.
A cameo performance at the end from Niaz Ali, who hit 12 runs from nine balls before being the last man out, only delayed the inevitable.
“If you say that this is our second team, then the boys have done really well,” Nizakat Khan, the Hong Kong captain, said. “Every game we’ve had some learnings as well.”
After winning the toss and electing to bowl, Hong Kong got the perfect start, with Ayush Shukla removing opener Tahir Baig (0) and Rohail Nazir (13) to have Pakistan wobbling on 19 for two.
The wobble became a full-blown collapse as spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar got to work, taking three wickets for 26 runs, and when he had Arafat Minhas caught by Hayat for 25, Pakistan were 126 for eight with nine balls of their innings remaining.
But Aamir had other ideas, and had added 34 to the score by the time he departed with one ball to go. Twenty of those runs came from the final over, where he punished Shukla’s waywardness.
“When I jumped in I was thinking about taking on the fast bowlers,” Aamir said. “That’s what my mindset was.”
In the day’s first quarter-final, India eased to a 23-run win over Nepal thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s blistering hundred.
The Indian opener crashed his century off just 49 balls, as he and partner Ruturaj Gaikwad (25) put on 103 for the first wicket.
“It was a great feeling,” Yashasvi said. “It’s a proud moment whenever you represent your country, especially India. I’m just so glad and happy to represent India and proud of myself for going out there to express myself and my game.”
Gaikwad and Jaiswal fell in quick succession to Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee to leave India 111 for two, and Tilak Varma and Jitesh Sharma followed soon after with the score on 150 for four.
But Shivam Dube (25*) and Rinku Singh (37*) smashed 52 off the final 22 deliveries to carry their side to an imposing 202 for four in 20 overs.
Nepal were always struggling to keep up with the run rate, and lost wickets at regular intervals, with the highest partnership the 45 runs Singh (32) and Sundeep Jora (29) put on for the fifth wicket.
When Singh became the last of Ravi Bishnoi’s three victims, Nepal were 122 for five from 14.2 overs. They battled to 179 for nine before running out of time.
“Overall I’m very proud of the effort they put in today,” Monty Desai, the Nepal coach, said. “There were a couple of misfields here and there so you never know; we keep talking about moments in the game.
“We take a lot of pride in our fielding but if we were sharper we could have kept them down to 180 or 190, and it would have been easier for us to chase that.”
