Pakistan vs Hong Kong, Asia Cup 2022: Babar Azam praises his young pacers after mammoth 155-run win

Pakistan left the disappointment of their last match loss over arch-rivals India by thrashing minnows Hong Kong by a 155-run in the final Group A match of the Asia Cup 2022 to progress to the Super Four stages. Following the win, the team’s captain Babar Azam, who could only score 9 runs on the day, praised his young Pakistan pacers Naseem Shah and Shahnawaz Dahani for performing well in their rookie season with senior pacers Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim unavailable for the series. Batting first, Mohammad Rizwan did the heavy lifting for the wining side with a 78 not out and was aptly backed by Fakhar Zaman, who scored a 41-ball 53 on a patchy surface. Finisher Khusdil Shah then slammed a 15-ball 35, laced with five sixes, to take Pak to a huge total of 193/2. In response, Hong Kong were bundled out for record total of 38 as Shadab Khan (4/8) and Mohammad Nawaz (3/5) wiped the middle- and lower-order after pacers Naseem Shah (2/7) and Shahnawaz Dahani (1/7) ran through the top order.

“Very good win for us,” said Azam at the post-match presentation ceremony. “Weren’t able to get our shots away initially with the bat. Our plan is for batters at the top to play at the end. Becomes easier for those coming in. Naseem and Dahani are performing really well having made debuts very recently.”

Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan, who also top scored for his side by scoring 8, said that the humbling defeats in the series were great learning for them while praising Pakistan for their efforts.

“Lots of learning from these two games. Must give credit to Pakistan. Their bowling was phenomenal. Our shot-making was poor,” said Nizakat.

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