Hong Kong finished on 149 for 4 after being asked to bat first, a total built around Nizakat Khan’s brisk 52 not out and Anshy Rath’s steadier 48. The third-wicket pair added 61 from 43 balls, a partnership that kept Sri Lanka’s quicks at bay and left enough wickets for a late dart.
“Wickets in hand were key, we always felt 140-plus would give us something to bowl at,” Nizakat said during the innings break. He certainly played as though he believed it, sweeping and driving with intent once the spinners were on. His twelfth T20I fifty – and the first against a Full-Member side – arrived from 36 balls, helped by two slices of luck in the 17th over when Nuwan Thushara twice missed the stumps by centimetres.
Rath had earlier done the graft, moving almost exclusively in front of square and striking at just over a run a ball. “My job was simply to bat through the powerplay and set the platform,” he told the host broadcaster. Two short of a half-century he miscued a pull, Dushmantha Chameera taking the catch off his own bowling.
Chameera finished with 2 for 29, the best of the Sri Lankan figures. Wanindu Hasaranga (1 for 27) and Maheesh Theekshana (0 for 22) kept things tight in the middle, yet neither could make the double breakthrough the defending champions probably expected after winning the toss.
Earlier, Zeeshan Ali carved a couple of streaky boundaries – one off the outside edge, one off the inside – before Chameera struck. Outside of those moments Sri Lanka fielded cleanly, but a surface offering even bounce and the odd skid-on never quite turned hostile.
Assistant coach Simon Willis admitted Sri Lanka had hoped “to keep them nearer 130,” though he praised the bowlers’ discipline. For Hong Kong, reaching a competitive score against a higher-ranked opponent marks progress; they will still need their seamers to locate early movement and their spinners to hit the pads if they are to turn 149 into something truly memorable.
