Asia Cup 2022: Babar scare ahead as Team India gears up for Hong Kong challenge | READ

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IND vs HK: Team India on Sunday, registered a dominating start as they defeated Pakistan by a margin of 5 wickets. Rohit Sharma and co. put up a stellar show as they outplayed the Babar Azam-led Pakistan side almost in every department of the game. India is now comfortably placed at the top of Group A. India will now face team Hong Kong in the next match that is to be played on August 31, 2022, Wednesday. If compared side by side, team Hong Kong looks a bit weaker but certainly Rohit Sharma and co. wouldn't like to take their opposition lightly.

Till now, Hong Kong has registered a stellar run as they won all three matches in their qualifier round. They defeated Singapore, UAE, and Kuwait. Hong Kong has few players at their disposal who can have a direct impact on the game and turn it around on its head leaving the opposition clueless. One of them is Babar Hayat, Hong Kong's key player. A descendant of Pakistan ethnicity, Babar is the highest run-getter in the T20I format of the Asia Cup. 

The only batsman to score a T20I century in Asia Cup

With a staggering average of 64.66 and a strike rate of 160, Babar has amassed 194 runs. Surprisingly Hayat is the only batsman who has scored a ton in the T20I format of the Asia Cup. The 31-year-old Babar Hayat has struck 19 boundaries and 8 sixes so far. The 2016 edition of the Asia Cup was played in the T20I format. The Hong Kong batsman had scored this century against team Oman. Babar Hayat who had walked out to bat on number 3 scored a swashbuckling 122 off 60 deliveries. What stands out is the fact that Babar had scored 96 runs in this innings only in boundaries (9 fours and 3 sixes).

First T20I match against the men in blue:
This will be Babar Hayat's first T20I match against team India. The 31-year-old Babar has certainly played an ODI against India in 2018 and scored just 18 runs. India won this match by a margin of 36 runs.