Hong Kong fields first against India in Asia Cup

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Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field against India in the Asia Cup on Wednesday.

Hong Kong qualified for the Asia Cup after winning all three of its games in Oman including against favourite United Arab Emirates.

"In Oman, we were good chasers, so we wanted to do that," Hong Kong skipper Nizakat Khan said at the toss. "Last time, we had a good game against India and we want to do the same."

Nizakat was referring to the Asia Cup game between the two countries when India won a hard-fought group game by 26 runs at the same Dubai International Stadium four years ago. However, that tournament was played on ODI format.

India defeated arch-rival Pakistan in its opening Group A game and victory on Wednesday will lift it to the top of the group, going into the Super 4 stage.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who played a pivotal role in India's win over Pakistan, was rested and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was included in the playing XI.

Afghanistan has already made it to the Super 4 stage from Group B, defeating both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh

Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan (captain), Babar Hayat, Yasim Murtaza, Kinchit Shah, Scott McKechnie, Haroon Arshad, Aizaz Khan, Zeeshan Ali, Ehsan Khan, Ayush Shukla, Mohammad Ghazanfar.