It’s the fourth match of the 2022 Asia Cup and if you’d like some top India vs Hong Kong betting tips in this Group A match, you’re about to get them.
Our online cricket betting analysis of this match also includes the team’s recent form, the team news, the pitch report and everything else you need to know before the teams go to battle at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, August 31, with a start time of 7.30 pm IST.
So keep reading and you’ll be fully armed with all the necessary information.
Recommended Bet:Back Rohit Sharma to be India’s Top Batsman @ 3.75 with Betway
The main attraction of our previews, or all match previews for that matter, is our tip on the winner market.
But there’s no point providing one here.
If Hong Kong were to win this, it would be arguably the biggest upset ever in international cricket.
Proof of that is that those looking for online betting for India to win will only be getting odds of 1.01. This is because betting sites know that even at those odds, they’d be throwing money away.
So instead, we’ll provide two tips (plus the usual toss winner one) outside the winner market.
If India have to chase, they could be chasing as little as 80-90 runs which means the two openers could easily just do the job by themselves without anyone else having a chance.
And if they bat first, again, the two openers could hang around for 15-16 overs meaning no other player could contend for top batsman.
So looking at India’s two openers, KL Rahul is looking very rusty indeed and though Rohit Sharma wasn’t too much better on Sunday, at least he’s been playing a fair bit recently.
He’s also at bigger odds at 3.75 than Rahul at 3.25 so that settles it for us.
Our Betway review explains what we like about this betting site and why it’s one of the ones we recommend the most.
Recommended Bet: Back Ehsan Khan to be Hong Kong Top Bowler @ 4.0 with Betway.
There’s a possibility that India could bat 20 overs without losing a wicket should they bat first. Unlikely, but possible.
Or that if they’re chasing 80-90, they get there without losing a wicket.
But if they do get one, that man Ehsan Khan is their best chance of getting one (or two).
He has good experience with 31 T20Is (a lot by the standards of a Hong Kong player), has a fine record with 39 wickets in those games and bowled extremely well in the recent pre-qualifying tournament.
More than enough reasons to go with him for Hong Kong’s top bowler at a very decent price of 4.0.
The extent of the rivalry between the two isn’t quite as intense on the field as it is among fans but it’s still the game that India most want to win.
Yes, they got over the line mostly thanks to an excellent all-round performance from man of the match Hardik Pandya but there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played scratchy innings where they could never find their rhythm and never looked at ease; KL Rahul was out first ball, perhaps not that surprising given how little cricket he’s played over the past few months as a result of injury.
So it was left to Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to get them home with the bat, thanks to some aggressive hitting in the final few overs.
Earlier Pandya had also starred with the ball (3-25) though Bhuvi Kumar was the one who was their top bowler with four wickets (4-26).
Curiously, they left out Rishabh Pant in favour of Dinesh Karthik and preferred Sky Yadav to Deepak Hooda.
But given they won, they’re likely to stick with the same team here again.
Hong Kong are here courtesy of topping the Group in the qualifying tournament.
They beat each of Kuwait, the UAE and Singapore to have a perfect 100% record so thoroughly deserve to be here.
Interestingly, the UAE, who they beat by chasing 148, are ranked 12th in the ICC T20I rankings while they’re down in 23rd.
So it shows you what a good performance that was.
Pakistan-born Yasim Murtaza, who only recently became eligible to play for Hong Kong, was their star man with the bat, scoring 130 runs across those three games. He was the top scorer in the pre-qualifying tournament.
Veteran Ahsan Khan was their go-to man with the ball, his off-spin taking nine wickets in three games; he was the top bowler of the tournament.
They’ll be well aware that this match is surely the toughest any of them will ever have played.
But they’ll be extremely proud just to be here, a big achievement in itself.
Hong Kong’s Likely XI
N Khan, Murtaza, Hayat, Shah, A Khan, E Khan, Shukla, Ali, Ghazanfar, Arshad, McKechnie.
India vs Hong Kong Head-to-Head
There’s not much to speak of regarding the India vs Hong Kong head-to-head because they’ve never played each other in the T20 format.
They did however play against each other in the back in 2008 in the ODI format with India posting 374 and bowling Hong Kong out for just 118.
Rohit Sharma is the only survivor from that match in terms of those who are likely to play in this one.
With just about everyone else scoring big runs around him, he was run out for just 11.
Venue & Conditions
We’re at Dubai again and what we’ve learned from the first two matches here is that batting is not easy at all.
Yes, it’s easier to score runs chasing because of the dew factor in the second half of the match but not that much easier.
Neither Sri Lanka nor Pakistan managed to get to 150 batting first (both lost) so you’d think that Hong Kong would probably do extremely well to get to 100 here, should they bat first.
So consider that when betting on the first innings runs line.
As for India, they’d probably be looking at around 180 if they bat first because their batting is strong and Hong Kong’s bowling shouldn’t be too challenging for them.
And if they get close to that 180, their margin of victory could be pretty big.
