Hong Kong won the toss and captain Jamie Atkinson elected to bowl in their evening match against Nepal at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the first ever fixture between two Associate nations at a World T20. With the prospect of dew making it difficult to grip the ball as the game goes on, Atkinson chose to unleash his attack, on the back of impressive bowling performances against Zimbabwe and Netherlands in the warm-up games. Hong Kong selected the 20-year-old Aizaz Khan ahead of Munir Dar, to bolster their seam line-up. Nepal were largely as expected, with several fast-medium options to call upon as well as the left-arm spinner Basant Regmi. Both teams were making their debuts at a global competition, having qualified for this expanded World T20. Although the 18,000-capacity stadium was sparsely populated at the toss, a group of Nepali fans were making themselves at home, chanting and waving their ‘4’ and ‘6’ placards with considerable vigour as music began to throb over the PA system. Nepal have also had to make a late, enforced change to their squad, after 19-year-old seamer Avinash Karn suffered a knee injury. Batsman Anil Mandal, who was part of their squad at last year’s World T20 Qualifier, has been called up in his place. Hong Kong 1 Irfan Ahmed, 2 Waqas Barkat, 3 Jamie Atkinson (capt & wk), 4 Babar Hyat, 5 Nizakat Khan, 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Tanwir Afzal, 8 Aizaz Khan 9 Haseeb Amjad, 10 Najeed Amar, 11 Nadeem Ahmed Nepal 1 Sagar Pun, 2 Subash Khakurel (wk), 3 Gyanendra Malla, 4 Paras Khadka (capt), 5 Binod Bhandari, 6 Sharad Vesawkar, 7 Naresh Budayair, 8 Basant Regmi, 9 Shakti Gauchan, 10 Sompal Kami, 11 Jitendra Mukhiya — ESPN
