In India's second Group league match at the Asia Cup 2022 against Hong Kong, only one change in the Playing XI was declared.
Rishabh Pant made a comeback after missing out in the first match on Sunday against Pakistan. He was included in the place of Hardik Pandya who powered Team India's previous win with the bat as well as the ball.
"We were going to bowl first as well. Looks like an even covering of grass and we need to bat well to get to a good score. We just want to continue to do what we are doing as a team. We don't want to look at the opposition and play good and hard cricket. We need to do our basics right, which is what got us a victory against Pakistan. One change: Hardik is rested considering how important he is for us, Pant comes in," skipper Rohit Sharma said during the toss.
Rishabh's inclusion in the Playing XI was much awaited and Twitter flooded with mixed opinions of fans:
India Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
Hong Kong Playing XI:
Nizakat Khan, Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Scott McKechnie, Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Mohammad Ghazanfar
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
