Who Will Win Hong Kong vs India, Asia Cup 2018?
Defending champions India will start their Asia Cup campaign on September 18 when they face Hong Kong at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Hong Kong went down in their opening encounter against Pakistan and they will be hoping for a positive result in this must-win game. Live telecast of this Group A fixture is scheduled to begin at 3:30 PM local time.
Ind vs HK: Where to Watch/Live Streaming
TV channels: Star Sports, Fox Sports, Sky Sports Cricket, OSN Sports Cricket HD, SuperSport
Live Streaming: Bet365, Hotstar, Now TV, SuperSport Live
Toss Prediction
Ten of the last fourteen one-day internationals played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium have been won by the side bowling first. Since the pitch here tends to become relatively better for batting during the second period of play, the team that wins the toss in this match is more likely to field first.
Read on for team previews, betting odds, betting tips and match prediction for India vs Hong Kong, Asia Cup 2018...
India Team News & Playing 11
IND Team News
India's all-format skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the Asia Cup in order to manage his workload and so Rohit Sharma will be in charge of the team. Shikhar Dhawan is likely to open the batting with him with KL Rahul slotted at number three. The selectors could include Axar Patel in the playing eleven ahead of the trump card Kuldeep Yadav to keep him fresh for the more important Pakistan encounter the very next day. The first-choice pace bowling pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are also expected to be rested which means Shardul Thakur will probably get the nod along with Khaleel Ahmed who could make his international debut.
IND Key Players
The opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma followed by KL Rahul at number three will be the key men for India at the top when it comes to batting. The trio have shown impressive form in white-ball cricket of late and one of them could go on to play the big knock. Rohit, the skipper, is fourth in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen and he was India's best batsman after Virat Kohli in the England ODI series. India might have an inexperienced bowling attack for this match which means that the team will be relying heavily on Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel. Both have 45 wickets each in 26 and 38 ODIs respectively and the former is more likely to cause problems for Hong Kong. Shardul Thakur will probably get the new ball and it will be up to him to provide the early breakthroughs.
IND Recent Form
India have won six and lost three out of the nine one-day internationals they have played so far in 2018. They played their first ODI series of the year in South Africa in February - a series of six matches in which they dominated the hosts 5-1. They next toured England which was their most recent ODI series played in the month of July. After winning the first game at Nottingham by eight wickets, India faced heavy defeats in the final two matches to lose the series 1-2.
India Predicted Playing 11
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (c), Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu/Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Khaleel Ahmed
Hong Kong Team News & Playing 11
HK Team News
It won't be a surprise if Hong Kong decide to back all of their players even after facing a crushing eight-wicket defeat against Pakistan the other day. This same line-up won them the Asia Cup Qualifier and so we don't expect them to make any changes to their side as they are already playing with their best possible combination. No injuries were reported at the time of writing.
HK Key Players
Babar Hayat and Anshuman Rath are the leading run-scorers for Hong Kong in one-day internationals. Both had an off day with the bat against Pakistan and the team will need these two to make strong contributions against India. There will also be expectations from Kinchit Shah who scored 26 while Aizaz Khan who struck 27 will be their best man in the lower-middle order. Ehsan Khan was the only bright spot in Hong Kong's bowling in the last game. The off-spinner bagged a couple of wickets at an impressive economy of 4.25 and he will be expected to deliver a good performance here as well. Tanwir Afzal and Nadeem Ahmed, the most successful bowler for Hong Kong in this format, are the other two wicket-taking options in the side.
HK Recent Form
Hong Kong received a thrashing at the hands of Pakistan in their Asia Cup campaign opener at Dubai. They surrendered to the Pakistani bowling attack and just two of their batsmen could manage to score in 20s. They will be extremely disappointed with their batting effort as the entire line-up folded up for just 116 in the 38th over. Hong Kong came into the tournament as winners of the Asia Cup Qualifiers where they won four out of their five fixtures, including the final.
Hong Kong Predicted Playing 11
Nizakat Khan, Anshuman Rath (c), Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Christopher Carter, Ehsan Khan, Aizaz Khan, Scott McKechnie (wk), Tanwir Afzal, Ehsan Nawaz, Nadeem Ahmed
Sep 18, 2018
17:00 IST / 11:30 GMT
Dubai Cricket Stadium - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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