Asia Cup 2022: Hong Kong win toss, elect to bowl first against Pakistan in direct shootout for Super Four spot

Sharjah:  Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in a direct shootout for the last remaining spot in the Super Four spot of Asia Cup 2022 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The winner of Friday’s match will become the second team from Group A to progress to the Super Four stage while the losing side will be knocked out of the competition.

Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and defending champions India are already through to the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2022.

The winning side from Friday’s match will then get to face India in the Super Four match in Dubai on Sunday.

Both Hong Kong and Pakistan, facing off against each other for the first time in Men’s T20Is, are unchanged in their playing eleven from their losses to India.

“We are very good at chasing. We are going to make sure today that we stick to our plans and execute them. Back in Hong Kong, we play on slow, low wickets. This is very similar and we also rely on the spin. We bowled till the 13th over. Today, we have a very good plan and I am sure that the boys will do well,” said Nizakat after winning the toss.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he wanted to bat first and got what he wanted. “We would have batted first. We wanted to put runs on the board and put them under pressure.”

Playing XIs:

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Shahnawaz Dahani

Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan (captain), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali, Scott McKechnie (wicketkeeper), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar and Ayush Shukla

–IANS