Asia Cup: Hong Kong win toss, elect to bowl

Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan called right at the toss again and opted to bowl again in their final Group A fixture of the DP World Asia Cup against Pakistan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Hong Kong went in with the same team that played against India and Pakistan too were unchanged, with the same XI that played against India, out in the park against Hong Kong.

“We are very good at chasing,” Nizakat Khan said after the toss.

“We are going to make sure today that we stick to our plans and execute them. Back in Hong Kong, we play on slow, low wickets. This is very similar and we also rely on spin. Today, we have a very good plan and I am sure that the boys will do well. We are going with the same team,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said they wanted to bat first anyway.

“We would have batted first. We wanted to put runs on the board and put them under pressure. We have the same team,” said Azam.

The winner of the match will qualify for the Super Four stage.

Playing XIs:

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (C), Babar Azam (C), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani.

Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan (C), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali, Scott McKechnie (wk), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Mohammad Ghazanfar.