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The 2008 Asia Cup took place in Pakistan. Co-incidentally India, Pakistan and Hong Kong were a part of the same group, a decade ago. The minnows were making their debut at the Asia Cup while India had won the Asia Cup 4 times. India and Hong Kong clashed for the first time at the National Stadium, Karachi on 25th June 2008.
India had won the toss and elected to bat first. The Indian team rested Ishant Sharma and Yuvraj Singh for this game. Suresh Raina (101) and MS Dhoni (109*) helped themselves to centuries against a hapless Hong Kong bowling attack after Virender Sehwag (78 off 44) and Gautam Gambhir (51) laid a solid platform. India scored a mammoth 374/4 in their quota of 50 overs. Left-arm spinner Najeeb Amar was the pick of the bowlers for the minnows with bowling figures of (10-0-40-2).
India had put up a near-clinical performance, leaving aside a middle over-spell when the opposition spinners leaked mere 47 runs in 15 overs. The openers raced to 100 in just 10.5 overs as Hong Kong's opening bowlers posed no threat to Sehwag and Gambhir. India's innings revolved around 2 partnerships: the 1st wicket partnership of 127 and the 4th wicket partnership between Dhoni and Raina, where they amassed 166 runs. Rohit Sharma, Indian captain for the 2018 Asia Cup, found it tough to get going as he faced 29 deliveries for his score of 11.
Hong Kong started the innings on a poor note losing opener S Ali in the 2nd over, but skipper Tabarak Dar along with wicket-keeper J Atkinson showed resistance against the Indian seamers. After this partnership ended, the novices could not bounce back as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals with all-rounder Irfan Ahmed (25 off 43) emerging as the top-scorer. Piyush Chawla foxed the inexperienced batsmen with his leg-breaks as he finished the match with career-best figures of 4-23. Virender Sehwag scalped 2 wickets in his 3rd over as the Men in Blue bowled Hong Kong out for 118 inside 37 overs.
Suresh Raina was adjudged the Man of the Match for his 66 ball century, comprising 7 fours and 5 maximums as India humiliated Hong Kong by 256 runs in what was a lop-sided affair.
Highlights of the Indian innings against Hong Kong, Asia Cup 2008
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