In the final Asia Cup 2022 qualifier match on Wednesday, Hong Kong beat UAE to reach the group stage, where they will join India and Pakistan
Asia cup 2022 qualifier:
In a dramatic encounter on Wednesday, Hong Kong defeated UAE by 8 wickets to qualify to the group stage of the Asia Cup in 2022. They finished first on the standings and went undefeated in the Asia Cup qualifiers.Now that all six competitors have been confirmed for the continental competition, Hong Kong will compete in group A alongside Pakistan and India.
Nizakat Khan’s Hong Kong needed to defeat UAE in order to move on to the group stage despite earlier victories over teams like Singapore and Kuwait. Additionally, there were no glitches as they obtained a convincing victory to prolong their stay in Dubai.
In the other qualifier earlier that day, Kuwait defeated Singapore by six wickets, but they needed to win by a significant margin to ruin the celebration. However, Hong Kong ultimately defeated the UAE team, who had won the right to host the Asia Cup in 2022 after Sri Lanka had forfeited it due to its ongoing economic crisis.
So the group stage is set, with Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka already confirmed for group B and India, Pakistan, and Hong Kong set to compete in group A.
At Asia Cup 2022, two teams from each group will qualify to the Super 4, where all four teams will play each other once in a round-robin format. The top two teams following the Super 4 stage’s conclusion will qualify to the Asia Cup final.
On Saturday, August 27, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will play in the opening match, and the final to be played on september 11.
Nizakat’s men won the toss for the game between Hong Kong and the UAE and decided to bowl first. UAE were bowled out as the hosts scored 147 runs in 19.3 overs thanks to the contributions of captain CP Rizwan (49 off 44) and Zawar Farid (41 off 27).
Rizwan’s team was kept in check by Ehsan Khan’s four-wicket haul, but Hong Kong had more left in the tank and finished off the job with six balls to spare.
Hong Kong put on an outstanding display, capped off by Babar Hayat’s unbeaten 38-run effort. The openers Nizakat (39 off 39) and Yasim Murtaza (58 off 43) established the pace early.
