The Indian team defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the first match, making a winning start to the Asia Cup 2022. India are present in Group A along with Pakistan and Hong Kong.
The Men in Blue are set to play the second match of the group stage against Hong Kong on Wednesday, 31 August. In this match, the focus will be on India's playing XI and whether Rishabh Pant makes a comeback or not is something to watch out for.
Team India included an extra seamer Avesh Khan in their previous match. Even though Avesh picked a wicket, his economy rate was high. Now in the second match, it has to be seen whether Rohit Sharma gives him a chance again or he gives a chance to the extra batsman in his place.
On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja is present with the team as the fifth bowler. The other four bowlers are Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Yuzvendra Chahal.
When it comes to Dinesh Karthik's place in the playing XI. He performed brilliantly in wicketkeeping in the previous match, and did not get much chance in batting. Karthik remained unbeaten on 1 run off 1 ball.
It seems that Karthik's place could be retained in the next match. Pant's place in the match can also be made if KL Rahul is dropped.
India won their first match and would like to seal their place in the Super-4 by defeating Hong Kong in the second match. If India wins this match, then India will be on top in Group A as well. On the other hand, if Pakistan also beat Hong Kong, then both the teams India and Pakistan will qualify for Super-4 from Group A. If this happens, once again on September 4, a high-voltage match can be seen between India and Pakistan.
India Probable Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan/Deepak Hooda/Rishabh Pant, Yuzvendra Chahal/Ravichandran Ashwin.
Hong Kong Probable Playing XI:
Nizakat Khan, Yasim Mortaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aijaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Scott McCakhney, Aayush Shukla, Zeeshan Ali, Mohammad Ghazanfar, Haroon Arshad.
Here is a short recap of what happened at the last meeting between India and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field first. Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu scored 127 and 60 runs respectively, giving India a strong start. Indian batters started to stumble in the last 10 overs. From 239/2 to 248/5, India lost thier way and ended with a total of 285/7.
Powered by Anshuman Rath(73) and Nizakat Khan(92), Hong Kong blasted India for 174 runs in 34.1 overs. Khaleel turned out to be the partnership breaker and have India a much-needed breakthrough.
Hong Kong could only manage 259/8. Khaleel took three wickets and the spin duo of Chahal-Kuldeep took five wickets. India won the match by 26 runs.
