It was a bittersweet ending for Hong Kong’s Asia Cup campaign as the minnow fell to a 26-run defeat at the hands of India at Dubai International Cricket stadium on Tuesday.
No one gave Anshuman Rath and his men a chance against the No2 ranked ODI side in the world after they were bundled out for just 116 runs in an eight-wicket loss to Pakistan two day ago at the same venue.
Having had lost their ODI status a month ago, the Associate nation were predicted to be the whipping boys of Group A with arch-rivals India and Pakistan expected to coast to the Super Four.
India and Pakistan have now advanced to the Super Four, but not in the manner they would have imagined in the former’s case.
On Tuesday, when Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu were going great guns with the bat for India, the expected script seemed to be being followed.
However, that all changed after the 40th over of India’s innings with Hong Kong’s slower bowlers pulling things back nicely. Only 48 runs came for India in the final 10 overs but even a total of 285 was expected to be too big a mountain to climb for the Associates who had folded for just 116 against Pakistan.
Nizakat Khan and Anshy Rath put on 174 runs for the first wicket.
That expected collapse didn’t come with Hong Kong openers Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan putting on a record 174-run stand for the opening wicket. For a big period, India were on the ropes with Hong Kong on course to pull off one of the most memorable upsets in cricket history.
Ultimately, India drew on their immense reserves to extinguish the minnows’ challenge but Rath’s men had undoubtedly caught the attention of the cricketing world with their never-say-die spirit. The skipper’s desperate dive to complete a tight single during his 174-run stand with Khan had embodied that spirit perfectly.
At the post-match, the 20-year-old captain’s mixed emotions after the defeat were clear to see.
“I think today was bitter-sweet. We really proved to the world what we can do. In saying that, we had India by the horns and really should’ve finished it off, if we are being hard on ourselves, which we should be,” Rath had stated.
Rath’s desperate dive summed up Hong Kong’s performance.
For a country where cricket still remains largely an amateur sport, Hong Kong’s display against the global powerhouse of the game is even more impressive considering the fact that there are only three active cricket grounds in the autonomous territory.
In fact, one of those three is actually a football ground which doubles as a cricket stadium for international matches.
90 per cent of Hong Kong’s player pool comes from five teams in the Premier Division league. Only 13 players enjoy a full-time contract while plenty in the squad have to take up other jobs to support themselves financially.
With their Asia Cup campaign now over, the future remains dark for Rath and his men despite their exceptional showing. Such are the travails of Associate nations in ICC’s scheduling that their next ODI fixture might not come for another four years.
“We don’t know what the ICC has in plan for us. Hopefully, this performance helps. The next three or four years will be a little bit quiet for us, going into a little bit of a rebuild period. But hopefully ICC recognise that associate cricket has got a lot better and today we just proved that,” Rath had said on Tuesday.
With the capabilities and spirit Hong Kong have displayed in their brief moment under the spotlight, one can only hope that Rath’s plea does not fall on deaf ears.
