Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers Points Table (Updated) after Singapore vs Hong Kong – August 20, 2022
Hong Kong began their Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers campaign with an eight-run win against Singapore in a closely contested battle on Saturday, August 20, at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground (Ministry Turf 1) in Oman.
Singapore won the toss and asked Hong Kong to put up a total on the board first. Hong Kong were in early trouble as they lost skipper Nizakat Khan for a duck and Babar Hayat soon followed to leave them at 8/2. Yasim Murtaza (26) and Kinchit Shah (34) then stitched together a decent partnership to steer the innings.
However, both the set batters were soon dismissed and Hong Kong lost their way in the innings once again as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings.
Zeeshan Ali (20) and Haroon Arshad (27*) made some useful contributions at the backend to ensure Hong Kong had a respectable and fighting score on the board at the end. They managed to put up a total of 148 for the loss of nine wickets.
Singapore’s bowlers put up a good showing in the opening game of the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers. Skipper Amjad Mahboob picked up a couple of wickets, while Janak Prakash and Akshay Roopak grabbed a couple each as well.
They had a decent start to the chase as their openers put up an opening stand of 35 runs before the first wicket fell in 3.4 overs. Their batters got starts in the middle as the likes of Aritra Dutta, Reeza Gaznavi and Janak Prakash looked good but failed to stand out there for long and put up a big score from one end.
The story was pretty much the same for Singapore as they kept on losing wickets and could not build partnerships. Manpreet Singh (12) and Avi Dixit (19) made decent contributions at the backend but it was not enough to take them over the line as they fell short, ending up with 140/7 at the end of their 20 overs.
Ehsan Khan was the pick of the bowlers for Hong Kong with three wickets to his name, while Mohammad Ghaznafar chipped in with a couple as well. It was a fine effort from the bowlers to defend the total and hold their nerves under pressure to restrict the opposition.
Hence, Hong began their Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers campaign on a healthy note with a win.
Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers updated table
Hong Kong, by virtue of their eight-run win in the opening game of the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers, are at the top of the table with two points in the bag and a net run rate of +0.400. Courtesy of their defeat, Singapore are placed at the bottom of the table with a net run rate of -0.400.
Kuwait and UAE are the two other teams in the middle who are yet to play their first game. It will be interesting to see if either of them can leapfrog Hong Kong to the top of the Asia Cup qualifiers points table.