Asia Cup 2018, India vs Hong Kong: Three things you might have missed in overs 36-50 of Hong Kong's innings
For a large part of the run chase, it looked as though Hong Kong might pull off an upset and beat India but in the end, once the opening partnership was broken, Hong Kong's brave fight eventually came to an end.
Chasing 286 for victory, openers Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath put on 174 for the opening wicket but the stand was broken by Kuldeep Yadav in the 35th over. After that, they fell apart as Nizakat followed quickly thereafter and against a required rate that continued climbing, they simply had no answer.
Extra Cover: Three things you might have missed in overs 16-35 of Hong Kong's innings
Extra Cover: Three things you might have missed in the first 15 overs of Hong Kong's innings
Let us take a look at three things you might have missed in overs 36-50 of Hong Kong's innings.
Khaleel Ahmed almost injures himself after his maiden wicket
The joy of taking your first wicket in international cricket is something that cannot be merely explained by words. The joy, the emotion that is going through you is beyond words but all that elation and joy almost turned to despair for Khaleel Ahmed.
His first wicket came courtesy of an lbw. He got rid of the dangerous Nizakat Khan for 92 and just as he was appealing for it, he fell over backwards and almost got trod on by the batsman who was trying to complete a run before the umpire gave him out.
Khaleel got his man but also almost got seriously injured and was holding his hand right after that. Thankfully for India, it was nothing serious and he finished with a three-fer and helped India close the game as well.
Spinners squeeze Hong Kong
Going into the last 15 overs, Hong Kong needed 102 runs to win. While that was by no means an easy feat with nine wickets still in the bank that wasn't an insurmountable mountain either.
However, India's spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal simply sucked the life out of the run chase. It all began with a wicket maiden from Kuldeep in the 35th over. Between overs 36-47, the spin duo bowled six overs and they picked up four wickets for 42 runs.
They picked up wickets at crucial intervals and ensured that Hong Kong were never really in the hunt towards the end of the game.
Khaleel takes full responsibility
After 45 overs, Hong Kong were 230/6. They needed 56 to claim an unlikely victory. Shardul Thakur, who was expensive in his first four overs, still had six overs remaining, Khaleel had three, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had two and Kuldeep Yadav had one left.
The easy option would have been to give Khaleel and Bhuvi two overs apiece and finish Kuldeep's spell. Instead, Rohit gave the youngster the responsibility to finishing out his spell and bowling the crucial 46th, 48th and 50th over.
While some might have crumbled under that pressure, the left-arm pacer flourished as he conceded just 11 runs and picked up a wicket as well to finish his maiden ODI with figures of 10-0-48-3