Hong Kong face India today

DUBAI, Aug 30 (Agencies): India will lock horns with Hong Kong on Wednesday in their second and final group league match of the Asia Cup at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.
After a hard earned victory over Pakistan in a last over thriller, scripted by Hardik Pandya, the focus against Hong Kong will be on batters and their adequate game time. India is now comfortably placed at the top of Group A. If compared side by side, team Hong Kong looks a bit weaker but certainly Rohit Sharma and co. wouldn't like to take their opposition lightly.
Skipper Rohit has made it clear that experimentation will continue and hence one shouldn't be surprised if there is another batting order that could be tried out on Wednesday.
For Virat Kohli, the Hong Kong match will be all about another quality hitting time in the middle against an attack that is sure to feel intimidated by his sheer presence in the middle.
Even Rohit, after a subdued game against Pakistan, would like to deposit a few into the stands.
It would be interesting to see if Ravindra Jadeja is sent at No. 4 position against Hong Kong or whether Rishabh Pant is tried in place of Dinesh Karthik, just to give him some game time.
While India's top-order went back to its old safety first approach against Pakistan, it had a lot to do with the quality of attack on display even without Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi could also get a look in, letting Yuzvendra Chahal and Jadeja cool their heels a bit.
Till now, Hong Kong has registered a stellar run as they won all three matches in their qualifier round. They defeated Singapore, UAE, and Kuwait.
Hong Kong has few players at their disposal who can have a direct impact on the game and turn it around on its head leaving the opposition clueless. One of them is Babar Hayat, Hong Kong's key player.
Four years ago, Nizakat Khan was a central figure as Hong Kong came within 26 runs of defeating India in an ODI. On Wednesday (August 31), he will captain a largely similar group of players (minus Anshuman Rath) at the same Dubai International Stadium in the hope that the shorter T20 format will help bridge the gap between two disparate teams and open up exciting possibilities. Hong Kong, who have been on the road for a while, bounced back well from their disappointments in Zimbabwe to come through the Asia Cup Qualifiers ahead of UAE and Kuwait. Central to their wins were the performances of the spin troika Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Ghazanfar and Yasim Murtaza, who between them took 16 wickets at an economy of 6.23.
On paper, India may be too strong for their next opponents, but they will have an eye on the finer points of form and fatigue even while they are flexing the proverbial muscles.