India vs Hong Kong Archives

‘Rohit Sharma looked scared and confused’ claims Mohammad Hafeez

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez made a major assertion regarding India’s all-format skipper Rohit Sharma by stating that the latter looked scared and confused.

Rohit, on Wednesday, led India to a second consecutive win in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022, following which the defending champions booked their place in the Super Fours of the continental. The victory against Hong Kong was Rohit’s 31st as the captain – the second most by an Indian after MS Dhoni.

Former Pakistan captain Hafeez, however, did not look impress with the Indian captain and questioned his body language while walking out for the toss for the Hong Kong clash.

“Look at his expression. This was after the match was over, India won by 40 runs. I am talking about the body language when Rohit Sharma walked out for the toss. I thought it was a very weak body language. He looked scared and confused. From what I have observed during the match, captaincy is adding a lot of pressure on Rohit Sharma. He is facing a lot of problems,” said Hafeez.

“IPL did not go well for him and after IPL, he hasn’t been able to regain the flow in international cricket,” he added.

https://twitter.com/MHafeez22/status/1565325895468032002

The former Pakistan all-rounder also claimed that captaincy is adding a lot of pressure on Rohit. Whereas, the supposed new approach from India is not reflected by their captain’s body language.

“Also, the pressure of leading India. He has been saying a lot of things about the brand of cricket, we will play positively… this and that, but it’s not reflected in the way the team is playing,” Hafeez claimed.

“It’s not reflected by his own body language. It’s easy to talk but to do it and show it on the field is difficult,” he maintained.

Hafeez then went on to make a major prediction regarding Rohit’s future as India’s captain and claimed that the latter will not be continuing to lead the side for long.

“He won’t continue as captain for long. His form and all things that are going on with him, from what I can see… I was also a captain, so if you are under pressure when leading the side. I have seen Rohit on a lot of occasions, he enjoys himself but now he is not expressing himself. A lot of things are going on in his mind, he is under pressure and I feel sorry for him,” Hafeez concluded.

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Yadav, bowlers star as India thrash Hong Kong to secure Super 4s berth

DUBAI: India’s young batter Suryakumar Yadav scored a blistering half-century before the bowlers displayed combined effort to hand their side a resounding 40 runs victory over Hong Kong and confirmed their place in the Super 4s of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.

Set to chase a massive 193, Hong Kong fell 40 runs short of glory as the side finished at 152/2 in the allotted 20 overs.

Hong Kong had a poor start to their run chase as they lost their opener Yasim Murtaza for a combined score of a mere 12 in the second over.

Skipper Nizakat Khan and their top batter Babar Hayat then anchored the run chase with an important 39-run partnership for the second wicket before the captain, who was struggling to get going fell victim to a run-out in the sixth over.

Babar’s stay at the crease also remained brief following the dismissal as he walked back to the pavilion after adding 23 runs for the third wicket with Kinchit Shah. The right-handed batter top-scored for the side with a valiant 41 off 35 deliveries, laced with three boundaries and two sixes.

The side then lost two more wickets in quick successions, which halted their chances to seal an upset victory. Shah remained the second top-scorer for his side with 30.

Wicket-keeper batter Zeeshan Ali remained unbeaten with his quick 26 but his efforts too, could not inspire Hong Kong to victory.

For India, Avesh Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck out a batter each.

After being put into bat first by Hong Kong, India enjoyed a late onslaught from Yadav and an anchoring knock from Kohli, which powered them to a massive 192/2 in 20 overs.

The men in blue were off to an unwanted start as the side lost their captain Rohit Sharma cheaply for 21 in the fifth over.

Following the early horror, newly-arrived Kohli joined hands with KL Rahul and added 56 runs for the second wicket.

Kohli was looking solid amid the stand, while Rahul was struggling to score at a quick pace and in the end, fell victim to Mohammad Ghazanfar in the 13th. He scored a snail-paced 36 off 39 deliveries.

Kohli and Suryakumar then gave a much-needed boost to their side as they added 98 runs in the last seven overs. Kohli played an anchoring knock of an unbeaten 59 off 44 deliveries, laced with a boundary and three sixes.

Suryakumar, on the other hand, top-scored with a quickfire 68 off a mere 26 deliveries; smashing six boundaries and as many sixes.

For Hong Kong, Ghazanfar and Ayush Shukla managed to make one scalp each.

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Hong Kong win toss, elect to bowl first against India in Asia Cup 2022

DUBAI: Hong Kong have won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the Group A fixture of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022, on Wednesday.

PLAYING XIs

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