Hong Kong dominates on both ends en route to first Asian Games victory
BY IRA GORAWARA

HANGZHOU, CN - A team is often marshaled to victory by either its bowling or its batting attack.

And it’s not often both do the job.

But after Hong Kong bowled out Cambodia for 70 runs and then blazed through 75 runs in 5.5 overs, we’re left grappling with which performance clinched the victory.

Hong Kong’s captain Nizakat Khan kickstarted his squad’s 2023 Asian Games campaign after calling the better side of the coin and opting to field first. Confident in his squad’s ability to restrict Cambodia’s total, the skipper entrusted pacer Ayush Shukla and off-spinner Ehsan Khan to open the bowling.

An early jolt in Cambodia’s efforts with the stick wasn’t enough to impair the squad’s opening lineup, which stayed largely stable through till the end of the seventh over. The loss of Uday Hathinjar – courtesy of Shukla’s opening over – ushered in Cambodia’s most steady partnership of the day between Lakshit Gupta and Ram Raushan Smaran.

But once right-arm medium-fast bowler Nasrulla Rana took charge of the ball, any signs of stability in the Cambodian pavilion were quickly thwarted.

Just two balls of adjustment were plenty for Rana, who performed a dual-action play in dismissing Lakshit Gupta through a caught-and-bowled show. The batsman at the other end of the pitch couldn’t hold his ground for long, as Ram Raushan Smaran succumbed to an LBW decision.

Rana’s spell continued in Cambodia’s 10th over, where Hong Kong’s bowling stalwart dislodged the bails from Etienne Beukes’ stumps.

The latter half of Cambodia’s innings proved a collapsing effort, as the squad’s middle-order batsmen and tailenders scraped together just 27 runs through the onslaught of Hong Kong’s bowling attack. Left-arm off-spinner Anas Khan commenced the back half of the innings, churning out a double-wicket performance in his spell to push Cambodia further down the trenches.

Potential to post some kind of competitive total was upon Cambodia in the final three overs, as it stood at 69/7. But in what became the final eight deliveries of the innings, Rana and Mohammad Ghazanfar – who created two dismissals in as many balls – rounded out the innings.

The onset of Hong Kong’s batting sent pockets of hope to the Cambodian side, removing opener Muhammad Khan’s position on the crease in the second over.

But the arrival of Hong Kong’s one-down batsman is often a source of unease for opponents.

Babar Hayat entered his crease, where he would face just 12 balls – but manage an explosive 40 runs.

A triumphant partnership materialized for Hong Kong, one that featured Captain Khan and “run machine” Babar Hayat. Between Hayat’s advent in the second over and the conclusion of the contest in the sixth over, a thunderous display of batting production emerged and anchored Hong Kong’s run chase.

Hayat sat at just two runs off five deliveries all the way into the fifth over, as N. Khan had largely been steering the innings with 33 runs off 20 balls. But after his first boundary midway through the fifth over, Hayat amassed five more mammoth sixes and one more boundary to propel Hong Kong to reach its target with 85 balls to spare.

Hong Kong’s destructive duo lit up the faces of their team, who expressed their gratitude to the spirited Hong Kong fans gathered in Hangzhou.

After limiting its opponents to a subpar total and executing a masterful run chase, Hong Kong will carry this momentum to its next matchup of the Asian Games, against Japan on Sunday afternoon.