As expected, Team India won another game and made their way to the Super-4 undefeated,making them the second team to do so, but make no mistake, they were made to sweat for it. They were huffing and puffing with the bat until a spectacular Suryakumar Yadavassault ensured the score reached where it was supposed to be.
And with the ball, while the pavers were surprisingly ineffective bar Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, the spinners put enough pressure on the Hong Kong batsmen to ensure that the win became a forgone conclusion by the 17th over of the chase.
Here’s a look at the talking points from the game which Team India won rather easily-
1. Kl Rahul continues to struggle
After a rather horrendous return to the Indian T20 side which ended in a golden duck, it was expected that Kl Rahul would finally break the shackles and cut loose against a relatively easier opponent, giving the utmost respect to the opponents. But the right-hander struggled big time. A couple of sixes aside, he was never in the right frame of mind to play the fluent way he used to, which meant that Hong Kong managed to put the clamps on them with their spin bowling.
Image Credits: Choosebeats
This was the first time that Kl Rahul had a strike rate of below 100 after facing 25 balls. In an Indian side that is changing its earlier pragmatic side to something aggressive, this innings does not really help his cause, especially when there options who are knocking the door very hard. Kl needs to get his act back together, and now.
2. Virat Kohli hits the first 50 of Asia Cup 2022
This was a make or break tournament for former Indian skipper Virat Kohli. The attacking batsman had taken a break from cricket to focus on recovering himself and finding form. It can be safely said that King Kohli could be back. He scored the first 50 of the Asia Cup 2022 tournament, though SKY followed him with his own 50. However, it was good to see him find form after his recent struggles and his fans will hope that the KING can continue to perform like this.
Image Credits: Cricket Addictor
3. Suryakumar Yadav unleashes mayhem
When Kl Rahul was dismissed, Hong Kong were well and truly in the game, and had successfully managed to put the brakes on the run-flow. They had it in the back of their minds that with Kohli also looking for fluency, a couple more good overs and they could have had a chaseable target. However, no one told this to Suryakumar Yadav, who walked in with murder on his mind.
Image Credits: NDTV Sports
What followed was a murderous assault on the Hong Kong bowlers in the death, courtesy of an otherworldly display of shotmaking by SKY. He hit the ball to all corners of the ground and was also one dodgy wide call away from maybe having a genuine chance of hitting 6 sixes in the final over. His blitz ensured that India reached 192, a total that looked seemingly unattainable at one point.
4. Avesh goes for a leather hunt
If Avesh Khan’s game against Pakistan went unnoticed due to the euphoria of the win, the performance today was in the glare of the spotlight, and not in a good way. Avesh was the most expensive bowler in the side against Pakistan, and he picked up from where he left last game by getting hammered all across the park by the Hong Kong batsmen.
Image Credits: ESPNcricinfo
He was errant with his lines, bowled the wrong lengths, and has just not found the rhythm and fluency going for him. With Arshdeep also going for runs today, India must have thanked the heavens for the extra 30-35 runs towards the end because this could have been a very different story had those runs not come.
