Poor cricket show by Team India in Asia Cup
Author(s): Arvind SharmaOn 18th September in Asia Cricket, India just managed to escape a humiliating defeat by a cricketing infant, Hong Kong. Who would have thought that an expected one sided match would turn into India surviving a horror...
On 18th September in Asia Cricket, India just managed to escape a humiliating defeat by a cricketing infant, Hong Kong.
Who would have thought that an expected one sided match would turn into India surviving a horror defeat! Well fought and well played Hong Kong but poor cricket by India, which just managing a narrow win. In wonderful and professional Hong Kong chase, it appeared like they'd pull off an upset against India, they eventually didn't, but a thoroughly tested India might just be there for the taking. In an ideal world, Anshuman Rath and his boys were just a game or two away from beating a top side in ODIs.
Hong Kong started their chase with the highest partnerships in Asia cup 2018, so far, 174 runs for 1st wicket by Nizakat Khan and skipper Anshuman Rath against India beating the previous best of the tournament of 131 runs for 3rd wicket by Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mithun of Bangladesh against Srilanka on 17th September . The all time best 1st wicket partnership in Asia Cup was of 224 runs by Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed of Pakistan against India at Dhaka on 18 Mar 2012.
Hong Kong captain, Anshuman Rath rightly said after the match, that “I think today was bitter-sweet. We really proved to the world what we can do. In saying that, we had India by the horns and really should've finished it off, if we are being hard on ourselves, which we should be.”
“We don't know what the ICC has in plan for us. Hopefully, this performance helps. The next 3 or 4 years will be a little bit quiet for us, going into a little bit of a rebuild period. But hopefully ICC recognise that associate cricket has got a lot better and today we just proved that”, added Rath.
A couple of days back Hong Kong has also given Pakistan a few reasons to cherish.
After a poor show in England tour by Team India, this low grade performance against Hong Kong is raising the eyebrows of many cricket lovers in the country.