Asia Cup 2018: Three things you might have missed in Pakistan's innings against Hong Kong
Pakistan got their Asia Cup 2018 campaign off to a winning note as they beat Hong Kong by eight wickets at the Dubai international stadium in Dubai.
Chasing a modest total of 117, Pakistan rode on Imam-ul-Haq's fifty and Babar Azam's 33 and reached the target with over 26 overs to spare.
Let us take a look at three things you might have missed during Pakistan's innings against Hong Kong.
Babar Azam becomes the second fastest to 2000 ODI runs
Without a doubt, Babar Azam has been Pakistan's most consistent batsman in ODIs for a while now and has often been compared with Indian captain Virat Kohli.
He created history by becoming the fastest batsman to score 1000 ODI runs as he took just 21 innings to reach the milestone. But, his teammate Fakhar Zaman reached the 1000-run mark in just 18 innings and broke Babar's record recently.
During his innings against Hong Kong, Babar became the second fastest after South Africa's Hashim Amla (40 innings) to reach 2000 ODI runs as he reached the milestone in just 45 innings.
Imam-ul-Haq: 4 ODI hundreds, 1 fifty
Imam-ul-Haq's ODI career got off to a fantastic start last year as he scored a match-winning century against Sri Lanka on debut and there has been no turning back since. The southpaw had played nine ODI innings prior to the match against Hong Kong and had amassed 544 runs at an average of 68 with the help of four centuries.
He had converted all his fifties into centuries till the start of Asia Cup 2018. His unbeaten 50 off 69 balls against Hong Kong last night was the first time he did not convert his fifty into a century. Since he was unbeaten by the time Pakistan had chased down the target, one can only imagine whether he could have scored yet another century had the target been a bit more than 117.
Umpiring blunders continue
Imam-ul-Haq did register his first ODI fifty after scoring an unbeaten 50 off 69 balls but the left-hander should be considering himself very lucky for reaching the milestone as he survived a scare earlier in the game. A huge blunder by the third umpire gave him a chance to see his team home.
Off the fourth ball of the 13th over, Ehsan Khan outfoxed Imam, batting on 23, with pace as the batsman was not fast enough to get his bat down by the time the ball hit his pad and it looked out to the naked eye but the on-field umpire refused to raise his finger. The fielding side went upstairs and the third umpire Rod Tucker felt that there was an inside edge and gave the decision in favour of the batsman. There was clear evidence that the ball went past the inside edge and the third umpire committed a huge blunder in making a decision in favour of Imam.
A few overs later, he survived another LBW call as the umpire failed to raise his finger again and Hong Kong were already robbed of a review. The replays showed three reds and again, Imam was let off by poor umpiring.