LAHORE - Babar Azam will lead Pakistan against Hong Kong in the last group match of ACC T20 Asia Cup 2022 today (Friday) in Sharjah. This will be the first match between the two teams in the shortest format.
Pakistan’s opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are currently placed at the first two spots in the ICC T20 Batters Rankings. Pakistan is confident of clinching a place in the Super 4 stage of the tournament by defeating Hong Kong, who were beaten by table-toppers India on Wednesday in Dubai. Pakistan lost a nail biter against India on Sunday as well.
Sharing his views, Fakhar Zaman said: “It was a tight game against India, the morale is high in the camp and all our players are confident of doing better in the upcoming game. “T20 is a short format which provides an equal opportunity for both teams to show-case their strengths. To aim for the Super 4, we have to ensure we minimise our errors and put up a good show.
“Hong Kong has played good cricket in the qualifiers but we will try to stick to our plans. The weather is hot here in UAE but we are trying to keep ourselves hydrated. We’ll be playing against some competitive teams in Super 4 and for that we need to be in perfect shape.” The match will be played at the historical Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Captain Nizakat Khan deems to follow in Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam’s footsteps. “Babar Azam is consistently performing. I try to follow in his footsteps in batting and captaincy. Playing for Pakistan was his dream but he couldn’t follow his dream because he moved to Hong Kong.”
Nizakat expressed his excitement over representing Hong Kong as a captain and playing against team Pakistan. “We are confident that we will play well against Pakistan. The way Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi bowls is amazing and that’s why he is my favourite cricketer.”
There’s a cloud around Naseem Shah’s fitness. In case of his absence, Mohammad Hasnain would be the like-for-like replacement. On the other hand, despite the defeat to India, Hong Kong will have been encouraged by their performance, with the bat in particular so there is no change expected from them. SQUAD (PROBABLES)
PAKISTAN: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani.
HONG KONG: Nizakat Khan (capt), Yasim Murtaza, Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali, Scott McKechnie (wk), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shuka, Mohammad Ghazanfar.
