Asia Cup 2022: On Wednesday, India registered their second successive win of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. They beat Hong Kong by 40 runs to qualify for the Super Four stage and became the second team to do so. For India, two batsmen scored half-centuries, but both were contrasting innings. Hongkong won the toss and put India to bat first. The former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, scored his 31st T20I fifty and made an unbeaten 59* off 44 balls with one four and three sixes.
However, the star of the show was India’s “Mr. 360,” Suryakumar Yadav, who played a blinder of an innings. He scored a 22-ball half-century and made an unbeaten 68* off 26 balls with six fours and six maximums. Both batters added 98 runs off 45 balls to help India post a big score. Thus, the Men in Blue scored 192/2 in their 20 overs. In response, Hong Kong scored 152/5 and lost the match by 40 runs.
India were 94/2 in 13 overs when SKY came into bat. However, after that, he changed the complexion of the game. He played shots all around the wicket and hit bowlers all over the ground. The moment of the match came in the 20th over of India’s innings. SKY hit the first three balls for six from Haroon Arshad. Everyone was thinking that the 31-year-old might repeat the history created by Yuvraj Singh by hitting six sixes off six balls off Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
But Arshad bowled a short-pitched delivery on the fourth ball and SKY couldn’t hit it. In the end, he hit another six off the fifth ball and took a double off the final delivery. Thus, he scored 26 off the last over. After the game, the BCCI posted a video clip of Virat and SKY discussing their innings. In the video, Virat asked the 31-year-old whether he was looking to hit six sixes off the final over.
Suryakumar laughed and replied to that question, “I was trying my best. But, let’s not get past Yuvi paa.” The former Indian skipper also spoke of Yuvraj’s six-six feat as “stunning”. He said, “That was a magical over, especially against Broad. That was stunning.”
India will play their next match on Sunday against the winner of the game between Pakistan and Hong Kong. India, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka have qualified for the Super Four stage and one spot is pending.