India-Hong Kong: the easy battle that didn't go that easy
“India won by 40 runs." ‘Wow! that’s a big
win.’
“Well, India won by 40 runs and defeated HongKong”. ‘Ah, wait, what!? Man, does Hong Kong even play Cricket? I have only
heard about it as one of the most developed cities in the world.
Let me correct my say then. ‘Alas, it should have been a bigger win.’
A mere win doesn’t count when your competitor is weak, but the margin with which you win matters more. Everyone wins against a weak competitor, then what creates the distinction?
Definitely, it is the margin of the win. Winning small against a weak competitor
is not very much different from losing against a strong one.
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| Photo by Alessandro Bogliari on Unsplash |
Alright, let me not sound like a pessimistic critique.
India-Pakistan rivalry:
No matter what, it’s time to celebrate and prepare for the upcoming so-called biggest
rivalry i.e., the India-Pakistan match, scheduled again in three days. Matches like these have been a blessing for cricket fans and the die-heart oppressors of each others. And
fortunately, there are high chances that they will get to
watch more of these high-voltage matches in the coming days. Asia Cup has come
as a boon for all the cricket lovers out there, not only in India or Pak, but in the entire world.
The match summary and the SKY's adventure:
Kohli’s bad form has been distressing for Rahul
Dravid (the Head Coach) and the entire team in the last few months. But the Asia Cup has turned into a big sigh of relief for all, with Kohli scoring a decent 35 in the first
match and a very good 59 in the yesterday’s. Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) left an impressive dent on people's hearts with his excellent 26-ball, 68-run innings. And what comes even better here is that it wasn’t an
occasional excellent inning by him. The 31-year-old talent from Mumbai has been
most of the times consistent in the recent past and has continuously amazed the
spectators with his extraordinary batting heroics. However, what didn’t come
good for India was the embarrassing half-century by the newly
inducted young talent Avesh Khan (Alas...not by bat, but ball). He has given some impressive performances in the Indian Premier League, which have obviously been the reason behind his selection to the Indian team. But, for the time being, his conceding not this many runs with the ball in the upcoming matches will be good for the team and himself.
Don't forget the past:
As we know, India-Pakistan is the biggest
rivalry in the world. Unfortunately, not only on the cricket ground but also on their borders. Well…we must not take solace
in the first win of us against them in this Asia Cup, and should keep the insulting T20 World Cup’s 10-wicket defeat against them in mind.
Keeping economy aside, there remains no doubt that Pak at least has made
exceptional advancements with bat-and-ball in the past few years. They have got
some best in the world batters, specifically one of the best openers in the
world Babar Azam, and Mohammad Rizwan, who really have given the bowlers terrifying
nightmares. Bowlers like Shaheen Afridi have really put a heavy toll on the performance of even the best batters in the world. There is no doubt that in
the present times, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the retired legendary players from country must be content seeing the youngsters playing their roles in an
exemplary manner.
The upcoming major:
The ICC T20 World Cup 2022 is scheduled for the
coming October. It's absolutely a high time for India to finally break the agony of losing crucial matches and missing on the ICC trophies. Post-2011 ICC World Cup (besides the Champions Trophy), India hasn’t
lifted a major one.