Hong Kong get ready with 'massive passion and drive'

For Hong Kong, the heartbreak during the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2018, held in Zimbabwe earlier this year, was twofold. First, they missed out on an opportunity to make the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and second, they lost their ODI status, earned in 2014 ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

Defeats to Scotland, Zimbabwe, Nepal, the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea while managing a solitary win against Afghanistan meant that they finished at the bottom of Group B.

Two of the teams they had faced in the qualifiers had to be conquered in the Asia Cup Qualifiers.

In 2016, they had to play the qualifiers ahead of the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh and were trumped by the United Arab Emirates, who made it to the Asia Cup despite not having qualified for the ICC World T20.

UAE came back to challenge them ahead of the 2018 event, but this time, Hong Kong were prepared. In the final of the qualifiers, which Hong Kong had qualified for after beating Nepal, Oman, Singapore and the UAE, they needed 179 runs off 24 overs in a rain-curtailed game against... guess who? The UAE.

That they won it with three balls remaining and two wickets in hand rounded off a fairy tale. Now they will face Pakistan and India, two former world champions, in Group A.

"There's a massive passion and drive for the game in Hong Kong, but unfortunately [it is] limited to how many games we can play through facilities," Simon Cook, the coach, told ICC.

"The World Cup qualifier was really a tough challenge for us. We didn't play anywhere near as well as we could have or wanted to ... it really provided inspiration to us going into the Asia Cup Qualifiers – show to the world that we had one bad tournament and we're still a very good side and one of the top Associates."

Cook's boys will now rely on their captain, Anshuman Rath, only 20 years of age but already on the road for four years.

"Someone like Anshuman Rath, who was come through the system at Hong Kong Cricket Club ... he has come on to the international stage and is performing outstandingly well," said Cook.

"We need to actually come here [and] learn from the best players in the world. Maybe cause an upset, but we want to try and compete."

Rath, who will walk out for the toss alongside Sarfraz Ahmed on 16 September for Hong Kong's first game of the tournament, is looking forward to the pressure that may come with facing the heavyweights.

"I feel like it's the pressure that I like to have on my shoulders," he said. "I think being young does have that sort of advantage. You sort of want to do a lot of things."

What does he think of facing India and Pakistan? "It's not every day that you get to walk out against India and Pakistan. I look to take it ball by ball and look to enjoy myself. At the end of the day, I am having a smile on my face when all those bowlers are running in."

Rath's teammate and fellow opening batsman Nizakat Khan, who began his journey with Hong Kong around the same time as Rath despite being six years older, says Rath is a "talented boy who came out really well".

"We lose as a team. We win as a team. We celebrate as a team as well. We all are together, we are friends," says Khan "Playing against Pakistan and India, it's a different thing. This is a great opportunity for us. We will give our 100 per cent and show to the world how good we are."

The fortunes have turned for Hong Kong. Whether they can make use of this turn of events and eke out something big for themselves remains to be seen.