Valuable Pakistan lesson for Hong Kong

Dubai - Left-arm pacer Usman Khan grabs three wickets

The truism about sport is that there will always be a winner and a loser and it is the end result that matters.
But, there are certain instances where it is not just about the result. It is about the lessons learnt and the experience of it all.
For Hong Kong, one of cricket's emerging nations, it was one such day. Going up against Pakistan, one of the world's top teams, in the Asia Cup on Sunday, the result was perhaps a foregone conclusion.
True, fairytales are always fantastic, especially when it is David slaying the Goliath. The underdog winning against the top dog is the stuff dreams are made of.
Ask any sports fan and they would tell you that such a result makes for a better storyline, that choke in the throat comes about and eyes get heavy with tears of happiness. Deep down somewhere, the sports fan has that underdog in him. But it was not to be one of those days as Hong Kong were in a totally different weight class. For the sake of the result, Pakistan got through on first gear, winning quite comfortably by eight wickets.
For the record, Hong Kong just about mustered 116 in 37.1 overs, their third lowest total after 91 against Scotland in Bulawayo this year and 105 against Bangladesh in Colombo, in the 2004 edition of the Asia Cup.
Left-arm pacer Usman Khan gobbled three wickets, while pacer Hasan Ali and leg-spinner Shadab Khan picked up two.
Also, it was the Dragon nation's fourth defeat in their Asia Cup history following 116-run and 173-run losses to Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2004 as well as 155-run and 256-run defeats to Pakistan and India respectively in 2008.
Pakistan then wiped that off without much of a fuss, with 158 balls to spare. Openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq, who scored an unbeaten half-century, as well as Babar Azam got a good work out in the middle ahead of the tussle against India.
But for Hong Kong, the fixture at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, represented another important page in their cricketing history, one filled with valuable lessons.
This was a fantastic opportunity for them to see first-hand how a top team operates and who better than Pakistan to learn from. In time, they would come out wiser from such experiences and can forge their own identity.
Teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, much before, had to go through a similar grind before going on to join the elite.
More recently, Afghanistan have shown the way and become an ICC Full Member and that should be what Hong Kong should be striving for. And they do have the ingredients to do it. With a squad filled with youngsters, they can create a fine blueprint for the future.
The bright spots for Hong Kong were their openers Nizakat Khan and captain Anshuman Rath seeing off a testing spell from Mohammad Amir; the partnership for the sixth worth 53 between Kinchit Shah and Aizaz Khan and then their bowling and the tight fielding.
Hong Kong have not one but two golden opportunities to learn from the best with India lined-up later in Dubai on Tuesday.
james@khaleejtimes.com

Easy run Hong Kong N Khan run out 13 A. Rath c Sarfraz b Ashraf 19 B Hayat st Sarfraz b Shadab 7 C. Carter c Imam b Hasan 2 K. Shah c Shadab b Hasan 26 E Khan lbw b Shadab 0 A Khan b Shinwari 27 S. McKechnie lbw b Shinwari 0 T Afzal b Shinwari 0 E Nawaz run out 9 N Ahmed not out 9 Extras: (w4) 4 Total: (all out; 37 overs) 116 Fall: 1-17, 2-32, 3-39, 4-44, 5-44, 6-97, 7-97, 8-97, 9-99 Bowling: Amir 7-1-20-0, Shinwari 7.3-19-3 (w1), Ashraf 4-0-10-1 (w1), Hasan 7-0-19-2, Shadab 8-1-31-2 (w1), Malik 3-0-17-0, Fakhar 0.3-0-0-0 Pakistan Imamul Haq not out 50 F Zaman c S McKechnie b E Khan 24 B Azam c S McKechnie b E Khan 33 S Malik not out 9 Extras (1nb, 3w) 4 Total (For 2 wkts, 23.4 overs) 120 Fall: 1-41, 2-93 Did not bat : Ahmed, Ali, Khan, Ashraf, Amir, Ali, Shinwari Bowling: Tanwir Afzal 4-2-13-0; Ehsan Nawaz 4-0-7-0; Aizaz Khan 3.4-0-19-0; Ehsan Khan 8-0-34-2; Nadeem Ahmed 4-0-27-0 Toss: Hong Kong Umpires: Rod Tucker (AUS) and Ahmad Pakteen (AFG) Tv umpires: Shaun George (RSA) Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)