Suryakumar shines as India beat Hong Kong by 40 runs

India have qualified for the super four stage of Asia Cup 2022 as they beat Hong Kong by 40 runs in their 2nd group match. They have won both their group matches first against Pakistan and second against Hong Kong.

Hong Kong elected to bowl first after winning the toss and started well with the ball as they didn't allow Indian batters to score quick runs. Skipper Rohit Sharma tried to open his arms and scored quick 21 runs before he was dismissed by Ayush Shukla in the 5th over.

KL Rahul on the other hand was struggling a bit but was scoring runs at a slow strike rate. He after putting up a 56-run stand with Virat Kohli was dismissed for 36 runs in the 13th over.

Suryakumar Yadav then came to join Virat and both started getting runs quickly. Suryakumar smashed the bowlers all around the park and got full support from Virat as both went on to score their half centuries.

Virat who started slowly but changed his gears towards the end and remained unbeaten on 59 runs. Suryakumar smashed 6 fours and 6 sixes for his exceptional 68-run inning in just 26 balls and took the team total to 192/2 in their 20 overs.

Ayush Shukla and Mohammad Ghazanfar managed to pick a single wicket each for Hong Kong with the ball. 

Chasing the target, Hong Kong had a horrible start to their inning as they lost opener Yasim Murtaza in just the second over for 9 runs. Skipper Nizakat was soon undone by the brilliance of Ravindra Jadeja in the field.

Babar Hayat looked magnificent and played some remarkable shots for his 41 runs before getting dismissed by Jadeja in the 12th over. Hong Kong had few partnerships in between but failed to score at the required pace and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

A late 36-run stand between Zeeshan Ali and Scott McKechnie somehow took the team total past the 150-run mark. Hong Kong fell 40 runs short as they managed to score 152/5 in their 20 overs.

Bhuvneshwar and Jadeja were consistent with the ball as they both took one wicket. Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh proved to be quite expensive but managed to find a single scalp each. 

Suryakumar Yadav for his exciting innings was adjudged as player of the match with the men in blue looking solid going forward in the tournament.