Afghanistan cricket team pulled off a great performance in the opening match of the Asia Cup 2022 edition over the hosts Sri Lanka to register a great 8 wickets win while chasing a target of 106 runs only after absolutely destroying Sri Lanka’s batting order.
On the 2nd day of the tournament, it will be the biggest match of the tournament, even bigger than the final as Team India takes on Pakistan in both their opening match of the tournament.
Other than, Bangladesh and Hong Kong cricket team are yet to feature in the competition yet. While Bangladesh will play on the 30th of August, Hong Kong will play on the 31st August.
Talking more about Hong Kong, they became the 6th and the final team to be a part of the tournament after having won the qualifier stage prior to the tournament. Many doesn’t know how good is Hong Kong team really is. So, today in this article, we take a look at 5 key Hong Kong players to watch out for in the Asia Cup 2022.
Babar Hayat
The first player that one might want to keep their eyes on is right-hand batsman Babar Hayat. He 30-years-old is the only proper batter in the squad. He ended the qualifier as the third highest run scorer having scored 97 runs from 3 matches. While the stage is high this time, it won’t be so easy against the best of the bests of Asia. Hayat has so far played 32 T20I matches and has scored 758 runs at an average of 29.15.
Yasim Murtaza
The 2nd player in our list is the batting all-rounder Yasim Murtaza, who is equally good with the ball as well as bat. Murtaza finished the qualifier as the highest run scorer of the tournament scoring 130 runs from 3 matches. He also delivered quite well with the ball, taking 3 wickets.
Nizakat Khan
Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan will have to take extra responsibility in the main stages of the Asia Cup. He did well in the qualifiers as well scoring 89 runs from 3 matches. Nizakat has played a total of 51 T20I matches so far and has scored 978 runs at an average of 19.96 and has taken 4 wickets. It is his contribution with the bat that will be really important.
Ehsan Khan
Experienced off-spin bowler Ehsan Khan will have to take responsibility of leading the Hong Kong bowling attack. The 37-years-old is gonna be Hong Kong’s best bet for wickets. He capped off the qualifier tournament with 9 wickets from 3 matches, 3 more wickets that than the 2nd best. He has played 31 T20I matches and has taken 39 wickets in his career.
Ayush Shukla
Looking at Hong Kong’s bowling unit, the team is severely lacking good quality and experienced bowlers, as thus, 19-years-old Ayush Shukla, who has impressed so far, will have to step-up and take command of the bowling unit. He ended the qualifying round with 4 wickets from 3 matches. With very short in experience, the pacer might have to be careful against Asia’s bests.
