Asia Cup 2022 | In Hong Kong we lack facilities but credit to the boys, states Nizakat Khan

Hong Kong have entered the Asia Cup as firm underdogs, having pipped favourites the United Arab Emirates in the qualification stage. To make things worse, they were drawn into a group with India and Pakistan, arguably the two strongest teams in the tournament. In their campaign opener, the side suffered a 40-run loss against the Men in Blue albeit they did put in a good fight in the closing stages even though it was too little, too late.

Skipper Nizakhat Khan applauded his players in the post-match presentation for managing to put 152 runs on the board against a quality bowling attack despite a lack of resources for their cricket training. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar is amongst the top 10 ranked players in the world in T20Is, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja are veterans of the game and carry loads of experience.

"Well you know we don't face this type of pace bowlers especially and even spinners as well in Associate cricket. But you know our cricket is also getting better. Back in Hong Kong, we lack facilities as well. But credit goes to the boys and the mindset is that we have to make sure that these games we enjoy ourselves. And the most important thing is that we take, uh, learning from these games," he was quoted saying by India Today.

The match's script was largely dictated by a flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav who came to the crease in the 13th over and played a sensational knock of 68* coming off just 26 deliveries. The Hong Kong bowlers simply had no answer to his explosive hitting as he laced six maximums and as many fours.

"Well, you know, the way we started our target was to restrict them under 165, 160 to chase the total. And the way we bowled till 13th over, we were going with that. But when Suryakumar came in, you know, he changed the game. So for us, I think we need to make sure that next time if these types of batsmen come, we need to make sure we need to execute our plans," Khan concluded.