In Group A’s opening game of 2018 Asia Cup, Pakistan proved too tough for Hong Kong as the two-time Asia Cup champions gave a sour experience to the inexperienced international cricket team. Pakistan claimed a comfortable 8-wicket victory (with 158 balls remaining) against Hong Kong after bundling out their opponents for just 116 runs.

Hong Kong skipper Anshuman Rath decided to bat first after winning the toss. Hong Kong openers had the great start as they scored 11 runs in the very first over, but once that partnership was broken on 17 runs through a direct hit, they lost other wickets in regular intervals.

After went down to 44/5, Kinchit Shah and Aizaz Khan put a brilliant partnership of 53-run for the sixth wicket as they were the only batsmen in that innings to reach the 20-run marks. Once that partnership was broken, their innings ended soon as the left-arm pacer Usman Khan picked up three wickets in a single over.

Hong Kong only managed to score 116 runs in 37.1 overs as Aizaz scored 27 runs while Kinchit scored 26 runs.

Among the Pakistan bowlers, the Player of the Match award winner Usman Khan (3/19) picked up three wickets while Hasan Ali (2/19) and Shadab Khan (2/31) grabbed two wickets each. Also, Faheem Ashraf (1/10) got one wicket in that innings.

In reply, Pakistan reached the target in 23.4 overs after losing two batsmen – the opener Fakhar Zaman (24) and the no.3 batsman Babar Azam (33) – as both were dismissed by Ehsan Khan through caught behind the wicket. Another opener Imam-ul-Haq remained unbeaten on 50 runs while the no.4 batsman Shoaib Malik was not out on 9 runs.

Brief Scores: Hong Kong – 116 in 37.1 overs (Aizaz Khan 27, Kinchit Shah 26; Usman Khan 3/19)

Pakistan – 120/2 in 23.4 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 50*, Babar Azam 33; Ehsan Khan 2/34)

Result – Pakistan won by 8 wickets

Important stats highlights of the match:

• Hong Kong was bundled out for just 116 runs. It was their third lowest completed ODI total. The top two in this list are 91 (against Scotland at Bulawayo on March 6, 2018) and 105 (against Bangladesh at Colombo, SSC on July 16, 2004).
• Playing his 45th ODI match, Pakistan batsman Babar Azam (2,006 ODI runs) completed his 2,000 ODI career runs. He becomes the joint second fastest batsman (according to the number of matches) to complete 2,000 ODI runs (former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas and former English batsman Kevin Pietersen had also achieved this feat in 45 ODIs). The record holder is Hashim Amla (South Africa) who had achieved this feat in 40 ODIs.