Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli shine as India defeats Hong Kong by more than 40 runs to secure a Super 4 berth.
India defeats Hong Kong in highlights, winning by 40 runs: India defeated Hong Kong by a score of 40 runs on Wednesday in Dubai, securing their place in the Super 4. With the help of Suryakumar Yadav's 26-ball 68 and Virat Kohli's 44-ball 59, India reached 192/2. Despite their best efforts, Hong Kong was unable to match India's total. The outcome was 152/5.
With India's excellent bowling lineup, chasing a goal of 193 was never going to be a simple task for Hong Kong. With the removal of Yasim Murtaza in the second over, Arshdeep Singh gave India the perfect start. Babar Hayat, though, made India's bowling appear subpar. In the powerplay, he engaged Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh. Ravindra Jadeja removed him, but not before he had made a valiant 41 off 35 balls.
Nizakat Khan, the captain of Hong Kong, was ejected by India before the powerplay ended. Ravindra Jadeja deserves all the praise since his direct hit was flawless. However, Hong Kong was still able to score 51/2 points during the power play.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja's combination bowling caused problems for the underdogs. Despite failing to take a wicket, Chahal managed to keep things calm with 18 runs from his four overs. Jadeja finished with 1/15 in his 4 after dismissing Babar Hayat with a straight delivery.
When Hardik Pandya was unavailable, Virat Kohli also extended his hand to pitch one over in exchange for 6 runs. Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan, however, would express their concerns on Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. To Hong Kong, both performed poorly. While Avesh Khan let up 53 in his 4 for 1 wicket, Arshdeep only managed to get 1/44 out of his 4.
Kinchit Shah (30 off 28), Zeeshan Ali (26 off 17), and Scott McKechnie (16 off 8) had brief cameo appearances for Hong Kong. It wouldn't be sufficient, though. In the end, Hong Kong scored 152/5 in 20 overs and lost the game by a margin of 40 runs.
India had trouble scoring earlier because of the Dubai pitch's slowness. Despite getting 21 points off of 13 shots, Rohit Sharma was defeated by Ayush Shukla. Both KL Rahul and Virat Kohli had trouble getting underway. For the second wicket, they scored 56 runs from 49 balls. Rahul's strike rate was at 92.31 and he only managed to make 36 out of 39.
In the beginning, Virat Kohli also had trouble, scoring less than a run per ball. But as his innings went on, he picked more speed. He will, however, receive a much-needed confidence boost ahead of the probable Pakistan match on Sunday thanks to his 44-ball 59-run performance.
Suryakumar Yadav, though, was the star of the show and the show-stopper. He started out in full-on assault mode. He helped India go from 94/2 in 13 overs to 192/2. In the last 42 balls, India added 98 runs, entirely because to Suryakumar Yadav. He only needed 26 balls to score 62 runs. His knock contained six fours and six massive sixes. However, the decisive over was the last one. Haroon Arshad was destroyed by Suryakumar for 26 runs, including 4 sixes, to lift India to 192/2. Additionally, Virat Kohli was unbeaten for 59 runs off 44 balls. His innings featured a single four and three sixes.
