India were far from convincing against Hong Kong in their Asia Cup opener in Dubai on Tuesday as they struggled to a 26-run win.
Openers Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath put together one of the most dominating opening stands in recent memory as they handled each and every Indian bowler with absolute ease.
Their 174-run partnership was the best ever opening stand for Hong Kong and one of the most fearless batting by any associate team in living memory. The two threatened to overshadow India opener Shikhar Dhawan’s 127 as they took Hong Kong close to India’s total of 285-7 before the Associate team lost steam towards the end overs.
Nizakat was the aggressor early on as he dominated opening bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed. Hong Kong made 56 in the first 10 overs and Nizakat made 40 of those.
It was in the 12th over which things turned up for Hong Kong. Seamer Shardul Thakur lost his run up and bowled three no balls, with one going for a six.
This Hong Kong side has seven Pakistanis in their playing XI.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 18, 2018
Tomorrow there will be eleven! #IndvPak #PakvInd#IndvHK#AsiaCup #AsiaCup2018
As India’s quicks failed, captain Rohit Sharma brought in spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav but both Nizakat and Anshuman found the middle of the bat.
Hong Kong, whose matches in the Asia Cup had to be especially awarded ODI status, brought up 100 in the 18th over and tension started to build.
Only part-time spinner Kedar Jadhav kept a lid on the scoring and also beat the bat regularly as India began to lose the plot.
The opening stand ballooned to 174 with Nizakat nearing a sensational century when Kuldeep finally broke the stand, getting captain Anshuman to drive to cover and get caught in the 35th over.
It was a wicket maiden and Hong Kong’s hopes received a bigger dent in the next over with Nizakat getting trapped lbw by debutant quick Ahmed for 92.
From there on, India’s bowlers closed the deal with Khaleel and leggie Chahal picking up three wickets each.
DHAWAN SOLID
India opener Shikhar Dhawan scored a fine ton.
India batted first and got off to a sedate start. Opener and captain Rohit Sharma was the first to depart with the score on 45 as he charged spinner Ehsan Khan.
Thereafter, returning batsman Ambati Rayudu and Dhawan took control of the situation and went about milking the bowlers. The two added 116 runs for the second wicket by the 30th over before Rayudu, who was returning to the side, was caught behind.
Opener Dhawan motored along to a well-crafted century. It was his 14th ODI ton and became the fourth fastest batsmen to reach the mark – in 105 innings. It was the second ODI century of the year for Dhawan.
INDIA COLLAPSE
However, as India approached the death overs, the wheels came off in a matter of three overs. Shikhar was the first to fall in the 41st over as he departed for 127 off just 120 balls with 15 fours and two sixes. The score was 240 with the best part of 10 overs to go.
The stage was set for next man MS Doni to really push on and take the score over the 300-run mark. However, the wicketkeeper was caught behind as he played a tired push to Ehsan Khan.
Dinesh Karthik then was caught at mid wicket as India stuttered to 248-5 in the 43rd over. It was down to Jadhav (28 from 27 balls) to take the score to 285-7. And that was at least 30 less than they must have hoped for.
