Asia Cup 2022: India vs Hong Kong Preview

India will face Hong Kong in their second group stage encounter of the 2022 T20 Asia Cup. The match will be played on August 31 (Wednesday) and the Men in Blue are clear favorites to win. However, T20I cricket is a fickle format and a stellar performance from one Hong Kong player can get them a famous victory against the giant Indian side.

India are coming to the contest after defeating the arch-rivals Pakistan and they will have their confidence up. Opening batter KL Rahul will want to score some quick runs against the Hong Kong side and look to prepare himself for the important matches lined up ahead in the competition.

For Hong Kong, batters like Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat will need to bat out of their skins and try to put on a solid performance to challenge the Indian side. Meanwhile, the encounter is set to take place in Dubai where the Men in Blue have already played one match. The surface been two-paced in the two games at the venue so far, however, a new wicket might be expected for the contest.

Here’s the probable playing XI of India vs Hong Kong

India:

India are expected to field the same XI that beat Pakistan by five wicket in their tournament opener.

Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh

Hong Kong:

As mentioned earlier, skipper Nizakat Khan and senior batter Babar Hayat are expected to play a crucial role in their side’s performance in the upcoming match against India.

Nizakat Khan(C), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Scott McKechnie (wk), Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar & Ayush Shukla