Suryakumar Yadav hit a sparkling half-century as India registered a comprehensive win over Hong Kong in Dubai on Wednesday that sealed their spot in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup. Suryakumar’s thrilling knock lifted India at the right time as they were searching for momentum at the death and eventually, his 26-ball unbeaten 68 powered them to 192/2 with Hong Kong managing only 152/5 in reply.

Rohit Sharma did get India off to a positive start before getting out but it was KL Rahul who made the headlines for all the wrong reasons for the major part of India’s innings. Rahul struggled to get going in his attempt to regain his touch post his comeback as Hong Kong stifled him. Virat Kohli also endured a similar fate as the Hong Kong spinners just didn’t allow these two to go after them. Eventually, Rahul edged one behind to the keeper in his attempt to sweep and fell for a 39-ball 36, a knock that didn’t do justice to India’s new approach in the T20 format.

He began with a bang. While Kohli and Rahul were struggling to bring out the sweep shot, Suryakumar came in and swept his first two balls for fours to get going. He quickly raced to 15 off 7 as his arrival to the crease happened at the ideal moment just when India were badly seeking momentum. With Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik and the returning Rishabh Pant still to come, Suryakumar had no inhibitions in trying to go after the bowling. By the end of the 15th over, India were 114/2 and had placed all their hopes on a strong finish to guide them to a match-winning total.

Kohli, who was struggling until the death overs, finally managed to hit one over cow corner to move into the forties whereas Suryakumar hit a boundary and a six to move to 26 off just 10. The onslaught continued as Ayush Shukla endured a tough finish to his strong spell with Suryakumar carting him around as well. At one stage it did appear like Suryakumar would go past fifty before Kohli but the former India skipper got to the landmark off 40 deliveries. Even though he wasn’t fluent, Kohli needed that knock in order to spend time out in the middle. Suryakumar at the other end threatened to smash six sixes in the final over when he cleared the ropes three times out of the first three deliveries but he could only add one more big hit to his name by the end of that eventful over as India fetched 78 in the final five to race to a strong total.

Yasim Murtaza was bounced out early by Arshdeep Singh before Babar Hayat took charge. Even though Hong Kong posted only 22 runs in the first four overs, the next two saw them add 29. Hyatt was doing the bulk of the damage as he took on Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh. By the end of the powerplay, it did appear like Hong Kong may go for glory but the chase fizzled out pretty soon.

The last ball of the powerplay saw Nizakat Khan getting run out and the next four overs fetched only 14 runs. Hayat then perished trying to smash Jadeja and that wicket pretty much ended Hong Kong’s faintest of hopes. Their batters were content batting out the overs before launching at the death. They took a special liking to Avesh’s bowling as they carted him around for 53 runs in his four overs to end up 40 runs short of India’s total.

Brief scores:India 192/2 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 68*, Virat Kohli 59*) beat Hong Kong 152/5 in 20 overs (Babar Hayat 41; Ravindra Jadeja 1/15) by 40 runs.

(Cricbuzz)