Highlights
- Virat Kohli has now scored 31 half-centuries in international cricket
- Kohli with 94 runs is the highest run scorer in the Asia Cup so far
- This is Virat Kohli's comeback tournament as he missed out on West Indies and Zimbabwe tour
Asia Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma-led Indian team took on Hong Kong on August 31, 2022, at the Dubai International stadium. The mighty Indian team who had defeated Pakistan in the first match of Group A marched ahead as they have now qualified for the super 4 stages of the Asia Cup and will probably face Pakistan yet again. Though, Pakistan's fate now solely lies in their game against Hong Kong. There were a couple of positives for team India in their game against Hong Kong, but as of now, they will be extremely pleased by the way Virat Kohli has played.
Hong Kong won the toss and decided to field first. As Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul opened the batting for India, they were expected to go big and score fast runs, but to the dismay of Indian fans, KL Rahul never looked like the one who can get going. Rahul scored 36 off 39 deliveries with Rohit Sharma scoring 21 off 13 deliveries. The spotlight was completely on Virat Kohli as he walked out to bat for team India. The former India captain looked in great touch against Pakistan and was expected to repeat his heroics and he didn't disappoint. Virat Kohli who showed glimpses of his return played a gritty inning of 59* which he scored in 44 deliveries. The Royal Challengers Bangalore stalwart with a strike rate of 134.09 hit 1 boundary and a six. He stitched a partnership of 98 runs with his counterpart Suryakumar Yadav who scored a swashbuckling 68 off 26 deliveries with 6 sixes and 6 boundaries.
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Virat Kohli has now raced ahead of his contemporaries such as David Warner, Babar Azam, and Martin Guptill in terms of half-centuries. The former India captain has now the joint-highest 50s with the current India skipper Rohit Sharma. Virat has hit a total of 31 half-centuries in 93 innings. The former team India captain was widely hailed by the cricketing fraternity and was also gifted a jersey by the Hong Kong cricket team after the match ended.
Teams:
Hong Kong XI: Nizakat Khan(c), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Scott McKechnie(w), Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Mohammad Ghazanfar
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
