Asia Cup: Pakistan crush Hong Kong by 155 runs to end their T20 hopes
- ‘Lots of learning from these two games,’ says Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan as his side suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Pakistan
- Hong Kong’s cricketers bow out of the Twenty20 Asia Cup after a whirlwind tour that has seen them away from family for 3 months
Pakistan bowled out Hong Kong for a record-low 38 runs and achieved its biggest victory in a Twenty20 at the Asia Cup in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Pakistan sealed the last berth in the Super 4 stage with a massive 155-run win and will face India again on Sunday. India won their group game by five wickets.
Shadab Khan bagged 4-8 with his sharp googlies and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz snapped up 3-5 as Hong Kong was dismissed in 10.4 overs to lose the last group game and bow out of the event.
The highest score in Hong Kong’s total was the 10 extras.
Mohammad Rizwan anchored Pakistan to 193-2 with an unbeaten knock of 73 off 57 balls after captain Babar Azam fell in the third over, brilliantly caught-and-bowled by Hong Kong off-spinner Ehsan Khan.
Fakhar Zaman made a watchful 53 and shared a 116-run stand for the second wicket with Rizwan. Pakistan stuck to its template of not losing wickets in the first half of the innings before pushing the scoring rate in the death overs.
