Asia Cup 2022: Why Hardik Is Not Playing Against Hong Kong? Rohit Sharma Explains

31.08.2022 - 17:17 sports.ndtv.com

There was surprise in store at the toss of the India-Hong Kong match at the Asia Cup, as skipper Rohit Sharma announced that Hardik Pandya was not included in the XI.

Hardik was the 'Player of the Match' in the clash against Pakistan as he contributed both with the ball and the bat to take his team over the line.

Against Hong Kong, however, Rishabh Pant made a comeback into the side while Hardik was rested. After Hong Kong captain Nizakat Khan won the toss and chose to field, Rohit gave an update on the playing XI and his take on the match. "We would've bowled first as well," Rohit said. "I believe it will be a good track and we need to bat well to get a good score.

We don't want to look too much into the opposition. Want to play fair and hard cricket. For us, it's about coming out and doing everything (importantly our basics) right, which we did against Pakistan.

cricket 2022 cup Rohit Sharma Asia Cup Yuzvendra Chahal Bhuvneshwar Kumar India Hong Kong Pakistan Hong Kong

Afghanistan in the 'Super 4' stage of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 , Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan said that the team was confident that bowlers could bat and Naseem Shah will remember those two sixes for the rest of his career. As a result of Pakistan's win, India are out of contention for the final as Shah's two back-to-back sixes off the first two balls of the final over undid brilliant bowling by Afghanistan throughout the innings and secured Pakistan a victory with the narrowest of margins .

Asia Cup 2022: India out of contention for final even before last match against Afghanistan

Asia Cup final after Pakistan beat Afghanistan by one wicket in a tense 'Super 4' match in Sharjah. Winless in two matches, both India and Afghanistan are out of the tournament and Thursday's match between the two sides here has been rendered inconsequential. With four points each from two wins apiece, Pakistan and Sri Lanka sealed their places in the summit clash to be played on Sunday.

Asia Cup 2022: Five flaws plaguing Team India

Asia Cup... Lack of big game temperamentAs in the past, India excelled in the build-up to the Asia Cup, winning bilateral games against Ireland and England. But the performance dipped dramatically again in a major tournament, especially in the crunch games. Some sub-par performances in crunch games are responsible for this. Suryakumar Yadav has a strike rate of 160 in this Asia Cup, mainly due to his 26-ball 68 (strike rate 243) against minnows Hong Kong. Against Pakistan, he scored 18 off 18 balls and 13 off 10. Against Sri Lanka he made 34 off 29 balls. Which means in these key games, he had a modest strike rate of 118. KL Rahul has a strike rate of 104, Hooda 106 and Pant 124 in this edition.

Asia Cup 2022, India vs Sri Lanka: Team is 95% settled for T20 World Cup, but we still need some answers, says Rohit Sharma

Asia Cup, the Indian team is facing some flak for a below-par show but skipper Rohit Sharma insists that the team combination is more or less settled going into the T20 World Cup, though, they are still looking for some "answers". The absence of an indisposed Avesh Khan and Ravindra Jadeja, who underwent a knee surgery, meant that India competed with only two frontline seamers -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh -- with Hardik Pandya being the third fast-medium option.

Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Asia Cup 2022: When And Where To Watch Live Telecast, Live Streaming

Pakistan and Afghanistan face off today in a crucial Asia Cup Super 4 match in Sharjah. While a win for Pakistan will seal a berth in the final for both them and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan will look to upset the Babar Azam-led side to keep their hopes of making the final, as well as the hopes of the Indian team. Pakistan and Afghanistan come into the match with contrasting fortunes. While Pakistan started the tournament with defeat to India, they beat Hong Kong in the group stage to reach the Super 4 and then beat their arch-rivals in their second clash of the tournament. Afghanistan, meanwhile, beat both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stage, but suffered a defeat against Dasun Shanaka's side in the Super 4 stage.

Asia Cup 2022, India vs Sri Lanka: No long-term worries, we tried out three-seamer option, says Rohit Sharma

Sri Lanka here on Tuesday but captain Rohit Sharma said there are no long-term worries as they were experimenting with three seamers in view of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Rohit said the back-to-back losses in the Asia Cup -- the first against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday -- will teach the team how to find answers before the ICC event in October-November. "I was happy with three seamers. Unfortunately Avesh hasn't turned up well in the fitness tests. He didn't respond well because he was quite sick. Ideally the combination we would play is four seamers, but three seamers was something we wanted to try before the World Cup," Rohit said at the post-match presentation.