Dubai: Hong Kong breezed to an eight-wicket victory over Kuwait to extend their winning run in the Asia Cup qualifiers at Al Amerat grounds in Oman on Tuesday.
Chasing a modest target of 152, skipper and opener Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat added 88 runs for the second wicket against Kuwait. Hayat expressed himself well on the continental qualifier when he remained unbeaten on 53 with five sixes.
“We started really well with our batting too, especially Yasim bhai played really well. We played positive cricket, putting away the bad balls, and we knew if our top order could bat until tea, we could chase this total very comfortably and that is what we did today,” said Hong Kong skipper Nizakat Khan.
Hong Kong opener Yasim Murtuza, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for giving his team a strong start, said: “It was a good wicket to bat on, so I just had to plan on my variation. This is what I did.”
Edson Silva, the player of the match against UAE, continued his good form with the bat, scoring a battling 56 to give Kuwait a respectable total to defend after being 57 for six midway through the innings. Silva put on a crucial 56-run partnership with to take the team past the 100-run mark with skipper Mohammed Aslam.
Kuwait skipper Aslam felt that the team did not have enough runs on the board to threaten the Hong Kong batters.
“If we had put another 30 runs on the board this would have been a good contest. Edson Silva performed well in the last match too. He is one of our power hitters and he did well, but it was not enough," rued Aslam.
“Nizakat and Babar batted very well, but we always knew the target was not enough. We still have hope, and tomorrow if we win, the run rate will decide things, and we hope we can win by a large margin.”
Crucial clash with UAE
Hong Kong will now take on UAE later tonight in a virtual semi-finals where the winners will strengthen their chances of making to the main round.
“We executed our plans in our power play, but in the death overs we need to sit down and have a clear plan and see how we are going to approach the UAE batters.
