Asia Cup 2025: Predicting Hong Kong's playing XI vs Sri Lanka, Match 8

Hong Kong have suffered two back-to-back losses so far in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. In their opener, they lost to Afghanistan by 94 runs in Abu Dhabi. Their bowlers conceded 188/6, and then their batters failed miserably, managing only 94/9 in 20 overs.

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In the second match, despite a seven-wicket loss against Bangladesh, there were some positives to take away. Batting first, Hong Kong put up a better effort in Abu Dhabi, scoring 143/7 in 20 overs. With the ball, they stretched the chase until the 17.4 over but could only pick up three wickets.

Speaking of their batting, opener Zeeshan Ali scored 30 off 34, while Nizakat Khan top-scored with 42 off 40. Captain Yasim Murtaza also played a useful cameo, hitting 28 off 19 balls at a strike rate of 147.36. With the ball, Ateeq Iqbal was impressive, returning figures of 2/14 in 3.4 overs.

With two defeats in a row, Hong Kong now sit at the bottom of Group B with a net run rate of -2.889. Their chances of qualification are over, but they are most likely to back the same playing XI against Sri Lanka on September 15 in Dubai.

After the loss to Bangladesh, skipper Yasim Murtaza admitted the mistakes they had made in both matches and vowed to work harder ahead of their next challenge. 

Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said: “I am happy with the way our batters scored. But I will be happier if we got 160-170 plus - that would be a different total. Once we go back, we know which area we need to work on and hopefully we do better next time. We gave too many freebies (against Afghanistan). Today, we came with the plan and this is what we implemented.”

Interestingly, this will be the first-ever T20I meeting between Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong's predicted playing XI vs Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2025

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Zeeshan Ali (wk), Anshy Rath, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Kalhan Challu, Kinchit Shah, Yasim Murtaza (capt), Aizaz Khan, Ayush Shukla, Ateeq Iqbal, Ehsan Khan.

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