Such is the nature of the qualifying round of the ICC’s World Twenty20 Tournament, that when Afghanistan play Hong Kong in Chittagong on Tuesday, they will be facing effectively a play-off to decide which of the two sides retains hopes of progressing to face the major nations in the competition, proper, while the losers will face a third match, with no more than pride to play for.
Hong Kong probably expected that their first game, against Nepal, would provide them with their best chance of recording a victory at the tournament. Unfortunately, their performance in their opening game, never threatened to provide them with that success, and the margin of their defeat, doesn’t suggest that they can look forward to the clash with Afghanistan with much confidence.
Hong Kong, whose performances in their warm up matches, when they had defeated Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, led to them adopting a bullish approach to the Nepal game, found their batting crumbling when chasing a target of 150, and they were unable to even bat their 20 overs, being dismissed with still three overs remaining.
Afghanistan on the other hand, will be hopeful that they record a victory to keep them in contention to qualify, as they had high hopes of doing so, coming into the competition, following their highly competitive performance at the recent Asia Cup.
Unfortunately, a crushing nine wicket defeat to the hosts, Bangladesh, in their opening fixture, means that even two wins in their remaining games, starting with Hong Kong, is highly unlikely to see them into the tournament proper.
The visitors were dismissed for a paltry 72, in just 17.1 overs by the hosts, who must have been somewhat nervous prior to the start of the match, having been beaten in the Asia Cup recently by the same opponents.
Losing a wicket to the first ball of the game, the Afghan batsmen never got to grips with the spin dominated Bangladesh attack, and their innings was a procession of indiscreet shots and lack of patience.