Even when Hong Kong were 174 for no loss in the 286-run chase, the handful crowd at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium along with the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side believed they are still in with a big chance. The slow, sluggish nature of the pitch and the inexperience of chasing targets in the Hong Kong batting line-up were the reasons behind their optimistic nature. In the end, both played a crucial role in India’s narrow escape in their Asia Cup opener on Tuesday.
India beat Hong Kong by 26 runs to get off to a winning start in the 14th edition of the Asia Cup.
That Hong Kong managed to make a match out of it and infact, gave major scares to India in what was being treated as nothing but a statisticians day out in India’s favour, spoke volumes about Hong Kong cricket, backing their claims of being unfairly stripped off the ODI status.
That debate is for another day. Tuesday was all about being an eye-opener for India. Arriving in Dubai as overwhelming favourites despite the absence of regular Virat Kohli, the defending champions huffed and puffed ever since Shikhar Dhawan got out after a brilliant 127 off 120 balls.
Hong Kong carried the momentum they got in the last 10 overs of the Indian innings all they way into their batting. Openers Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan put on Hong Kong's first ever 100-run opening partnership in ODIs.
Nizakat Khan raced to his fifty off just 45 balls and captain Rath carried on in his own way, rotating the strike against the Indian wrist spinners. Despite bringing up their 100 inside 18 overs, the scoreboard pressure got to the openers. Indian spinners - Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav used the slowness of the pitch to their advantage to apply the brakes.
The pressure cooker exploded in the 35th over when captain Rath hit it straight to Rohit Sharma at covers after playing a brilliant knock of 73. If Kuldeep brought relief to the Indian camp by providing the breakthrough, debutant Khaleel Ahmed got them back in the game in the next over by pinning Nizakat plumb in front for 92.
The new batsmen then struggled to pick Kuldeep and Khaleel from the other end mixed up the slower bowls and seam-ups exceptionally well to get the asking rate over 8 runs an over.
The debutant struck again, accounting for Carter in the 40th over to set the cat amongst the pigeons in the Hong Kong camp.
The big hits did come from Babar Hayat and Ehsan Khan towards the end but they were too few and far in between. Chahal kept chipping away with the wickets to return with 3 for 46 but it was debutant Khaleel, who impressed the most, getting the focus away from a disappointing bowling performance by the other two India seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur.
Khaleel ended up with figures of 3 for 48 to restrict Hong Kong to 259 for 8 in 50 overs and made a strong case for himself for the next match against Pakistan.
Earlier, Change of format changed the fortunes of Shikhar Dhawan as he roared back to form, slamming an authoritative century against minnows Hong Kong to lead India to 285 for 7.
Dhawan scored 127 off 120 balls, batting pretty much unchallenged against a Hong Kong bowling attack which lacked the firepower to put the strong Indian batting line-up in any sort of difficulties.
India, however, would be disappointed with the way they finished after Dhawan got out in the 41st over. The defending champions lost five wickets and managed only 48 runs in the last 10 overs as questions over the Indian middle-order rose further. Dinesh Karthik, Ms Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav failed to up the ante in the death overs, the slowness of the pitch did not help India either.
Dhawan hit as many as 15 boundaries and two sixes en route his 14th ODI century. Together with comeback man Ambati Rayudu (60), Dhawan stitched 116 runs for the second wicket off 130 deliveries, to lay the foundation for India's total after the early dismissal of skipper Rohit Sharma (23).
Sent in to bat India lost Rohit with the scoreboard reading 45 in 7.4 overs but then Dhawan and Rayudu joined hands and shared a century stand during their chanceless knocks.
Returning to the side after clearing the YoYo test, Rayudu grabbed the opportunity with both hands and hit three boundaries and two sixes during his 70-ball knock.
But just when it seemed the duo would smash the opposition to cleaners, Rayudu edged an Ehsan Nawaz bouncer to Scott McKechnie behind the stumps, trying an uppercut.
After the end of Dhawan-Rayudu partnership, the Indian batsmen found the going tough against slow bowlers of Hong Kong, especially in a relatively slow pitch, where shot making is not easy for a new batsman.
Dhawan and next man Dinesh Karthik (33) then shared 79 runs for the third wicket to take the side forward before Hong Kong picked up three quick wickets to put brakes on India's scoring rate.
Dhawan himself wasted a golden opportunity to score a big hundred, holing out to Tanwir Afzal off off-spinner Kinchit Shah's (3/39) bowling in the 41st over.
Talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni's stay at the crease was limited to three deliveries as he failed to gauge the slowness of the pitch and edged one to McKechnie off off-spinner Ehsan Khan (2/65) in the next over.
As if that was not enough, Karthik too gave away his wicket while trying to go for a big shot on a slow wicket, caught at deep mid-wicket to Babar Hayat off Shah.
Towards the end, Kedar Jadhav made a 27-ball 28 but he too found shot-making difficult because of the slow nature of the pitch.