India vs Hong Kong, 4th Match, Group A at Dubai, , Sep 18 2018 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.52pm And that's all from us at ESPNcricinfo. Hope you enjoyed your coverage. See you in less than 15 hours for the big one: India v Pakistan. Till then, it's goodnight and goodbye from us. On behalf of Varun Shetty, this is Sreshth Shah signing off.

11.45pm Time for the presentation.

Shikhar Dhawan, the Man of the Match: "I was working hard as always, and was being patient knowing that runs were going to come. I wasn't taking extra risk today, was playing on the merit of the ball. And they were bowling in right areas. The pitch was a bit slow too."

Rohit Sharma: "Eventually to win the game is important. We always knew it wasn't going to be easy. We had an inexperienced bowling line-up, but that's no excuse. The mistake was that we could've attacked a bit more. It's a mistake, and that's a learning curve. They pulled off the victory, and I have no doubt for the future as well. Didn't doubt ourselves at any stage, but credit to Hong Kong. Great partnership by their openers, and for our bowling curve, it was great to handle those situations. We will be put under pressure at times, and it's important to handle it. The positives were Shikhar's innings. He had a long tour of England, and was determined to bat in those conditions. It wasn't easy. And Ambati Rayudu as well. Playing after a long time and got a fifty. And ofcourse, Dinesh and Kedar finished off well. Khaleel is a very exciting player. He showed he didn't start well, but was good enough to come back well. If you can't do well for 2-3 overs it's okay, but you should find a way to come back, and he really found that way, and found his rewards. We know we're playing back-to-back games, but no problem. That's why we rested some players for today."

hari : "Couldn't there be a better scheduling with India playing HK yesterday and Sri Lanka playing Afghanistan today? India should have gotten a day's rest which they don't have now!!" -- no! Because then Afghanistan and Bangladesh would've ended up playing back-to-back games. It's a Catch-22 situation

Rajat Saxena: "@Sreshth Shah - I don't see Khaleel playing tomorrow. Are you sure you will drop Bhuvi for one not so good performance? It is a big gamble. The eleven for tomorrow is obvious Rohit, Dhawan, Rahul, Rayadu/Karthik, Jadhav, Dhoni, Pandya, Kumar, Kuldeep, Chahal,Bumrah."

11.32pm It may have been a 26-run win but at the halfway stage of the second innings, the India camp looked mightily worried. Anshy Rath and Nizakat Khan's 174-run first-wicket stand sent shivers down the Indian fans, but the strangle from the spinners - including Jadhav - and a terrific back-end spell from the debutant Khaleel ensures they're through to the super-four stage. Hong Kong, though, can walk back with their head held high as they now shake hands with the Indians. It wasn't just a decent show with the bat from the Associate side, but also a great end to their innings with the ball as well. Remember, they conceded less than 50 runs off India's final ten overs to restrict them to 285. Hong Kong have given a much better show than two days ago, when they were bowled out for 116, and there's much that can be expected from them.

Here's their captain Anshy Rath. "We are proud, but it's bittersweet," he says. "We should've probably won it, but lost few too many wickets in the middle during key times. Credit to the India bowlers for sticking with their plans. Going into the tournament we had no pressure, and we wanted to play with a smile on our faces. It would've been nice if we rolled over the best team in the world, but I'm super proud of the boys. Nizakat's innings at the top was great. He batted at No. 4 in the qualifiers, but he's delivered as the opener. And against the best white-ball side in the world, we showed the kind of cricket we can play. Our bowlers stuck out in the heat, and we pulled India to under 300."

Anesh: "It may have been a 26-run win but scoreline doesn't say how well Hong Kong fought ...[like Virat Kohli / Ravi S says]"

Jai: "Srilanka scored only 282 runs in total in Asia Cup !! Just Saying .... !!"

Salim: "Hong Kong has lost the match but the hearts of Indian cricket lovers !!!!

Nimish: "Has Khaleel Ahmad impressed Rohit Sharma enough to be given a thought ahead of team selection for the big match against Pakistan? " -- Definitely has. I expect either Shardul or Bhuvi to be replaced by Bumrah

Vishnu Raj: "This game reminds me of a game from 2003 world cup where John Davison opening for Canada in Centurion stunned the West Indies with the fastest hundred in a world cup match at that time only for the other batsman following him give the advantage back to Windies.That was a memorable innings.Lara then had his bit of fun by carting Barry Seebaran for 26 runs in a over."

Dr. Tejas: "Khaleel now has same debut figure as ZAK, India's most successfull left arm seamer, If only khaleel wil have same successful career, remains to be seen, Good Luck"

Jishnu: "Khaleel Ahmed finishes his quota of overs on a day when India's main stream pacers do not. A great debut for the young man with wickets too!! Living up to the hopes."

If Khaleel gets one more wicket it will be the best figures by a Indian bowler on debut

Ayesha: "Well, crossing 250 while chasing 285 against top side like India is a feat in itself. I'm sure HK will be going home with their heads held high. BRAVO!!"

Anmol: "So India get almost 15.5 hours only to relax themselves and play the most awaited match!!"

Nishant: "Why Rashid Khan's name doesn't appear in fastest 50 ODI wickets?" -- H's not the fastest, that's why

Three overs to go. Hong Kong need 40. Mathematically, it's possible.