In what could be the last group match of this year’s Asia Cup 2022, Pakistan will be batting first after losing the toss against Hong Kong. Both sides are unchanged, but Pakistan would be smiling as this means Naseem Shah is back in the playing eleven. Earlier there were some injury scare for the pacer as he had to walk off the playing field against arch-rivals India at the Dubai International Stadium. Coming back to the game, both the sides remain unchanged and Hong Kong skipper said bowling first was a no-brainer.
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Babar Azam: We would have batted first. We wanted to put runs on the board and put them under pressure. We have the same team. Every match is a new match, so we’ll try to play our best cricket. Our confidence is the same. It was a tight game (against India), looking forward to this game.
Nizakat Khan: We are gonna bowl again. 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 spin. We bowled well till the 13th over. Today, we have a very good plan and I am sure that the boys will do well. We are going with the same team.
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Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani
Hong Kong (Playing XI): Nizakat Khan(c), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali, Scott McKechnie(w), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Mohammad Ghazanfar
After showing a spirited fight against India, Hong Kong will be up against Pakistan in what could be their last group game at the Asia Cup 2022. While the Nizakat Khan-led side would want to prove that they are no pushovers, odds are slightly stacked against them against an international side like Pakistan who went onto lose the match by 5 wickets against arch-rivals India. The onus will again be on Babar Azam-led side to try out a new set of bowlers like Hasan Ali, who are yet to get a game or they can also go in with tried and tested playing eleven.
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