Pakistan dominated Hong Kong and easily defeated them to go to the Asia Cup 2022’s Super Four stage thanks to their masterful performance on a slow-turning pitch.

In a match that both sides had to win to remain in the competition, Pakistan had set a 194-run target for Hong Kong.

However, Pakistan’s bowling display guaranteed that Hong Kong was bowled for just 38 runs, giving the Men in Green a 155-run victory.

This is the lowest score any team has ever achieved against a full-member team.

The tone was set by Naseem Shah’s double-wicket in the third over of Hong Kong’s innings. The wickets began to fall like ten pins after that.

By giving Hong Kong little room to score and taking frequent wickets, the bowlers continued to apply pressure. The final wicket that Shahab Khan took to put an end to Hong Kong’s suffering came in the eleventh over.

Shadab finished with four wickets for Pakistan, Mohammad Nawaz had three, and Shahnawaz Dahani got one.

Pakistani innings

Pakistan got off to a sluggish start after losing Captain Babar Azam in the third over and with only 13 runs on the board.

But Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman put together a 116-run partnership to pave the way for Khushdil Shah to light up the final three overs with his fireworks.

Before being dismissed on the first delivery of the 17th over, Zaman made 53 runs off of 41 balls.

However, the pair had created a solid base on which Khushdil Shah could take advantage of the Hong Kong bowlers. Pakistan’s cameo of 35 off 15 balls from Khushdil helped the team reach 193/2.

Mohammad Rizwan batted through the entire innings and finished on 78 undefeated.

Off-spinner Ehsan Khan was the only bowler for Hong Kong to record a wicket; he removed Babar and Zaman in four overs for a total of 28 runs.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammed Hasnain, Hasan Ali.

Hong Kong: Yasim Murtaza, Nizakat Khan(c), Babar Hayat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan, Scott McKechnie(w), Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar, Ayush Shukla, Wajid Shah, Aftab Hussain, Dhananjay Rao, Mohammad Waheed, Ahan Trivedi, Ateeq Iqbal.