Asia Cup 2018: Three things you might have missed in the first 15 overs of India's innings
Earlier today, India kickstarted their Asia Cup 2018 campaign by taking on Hong Kong at the Dubai international stadium in Dubai. Hong Kong skipper Anshuman Rath won the toss and asked India to bat first.
The Indian openers got their team off to a great start as they put on 45 runs in 7.4 overs before skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 23.
India are cruising at 77/1 after 15 overs with Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu batting on 40 and 13 respectively.
Let us take a look at three things you might have missed in the first 15 overs of India's innings.
India's 222nd ODI cricketer
When the Asia Cup 2018 schedule was announced, it was expected that India will not field their first XI in their opening game as the all-important game against Pakistan has been scheduled a day after their opening game against the qualifier (Hong Kong).
As expected, India did field a second-string team against Hong Kong. The XI included a debutant in Khaleel Ahmed, who is now India's 222nd ODI cricketer. He received his cap from skipper Rohit Sharma before the toss.
Interestingly, the left-arm seamer to play for India was Barinder Sran, who last played an international match in the series against Zimbabwe in 2016.
An empty stadium
When was the last time the Indian team played in a near-empty stadium? Irrespective of where the Indian team plays, the fans will turn up in huge numbers to support them.
Surprisingly, Rohit Sharma and co. are forced to play their match against Hong Kong with just a handful of fans watching the action live from the venue. This comes as a surprise to many especially after seeing the number of fans, who turned out in large numbers for the previous games barring Pakistan's clash against Hong Kong.
The reason for this could be the fact that Tuesday is not a holiday in the UAE and adding to that, the heat in that part of the world would have made the fans not to seek tickets for an encounter in which India are taking on an associate team.
Rohit Sharma fails in his 100th outing as an opener
India captain Rohit Sharma was in and out of the Indian team in the past when he was playing as a middle-order batsman. His career changed when he was asked to open the batting against England in an ODI in Mohali in 2013.
Since then, he has established himself as one of the best ODI batsmen around and has scored over 16 centuries including three double centuries, becoming the batsman to have more than one double ton in ODIs.
Playing his 100th innings as an opener, a lot was expected from Rohit against Hong Kong but all he managed was throwing his wicket away after looking solid in the crease. He was caught by Nizakat Khan off the bowling of Ehsan Khan for 23.