HANGZHOU: The National women’s cricket squad got their 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games campaign on the right foot by stunning fancied Hong Kong by 22 runs to cruise into the quarter-finals of the women’s Twenty20I (T20I) event here, today.

In the Group B preliminary round action at the ZJUT Cricket Field, Malaysia, who lost the toss and opted to bat, hit 104 runs in 9 overs while Hong Kong scored 82 runs in 10 overs.

Based on the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I (Asia) ranking, Malaysia are currently on eighth position while Hong Kong are the seventh best team.

Earlier today, Indonesia outplayed Mongolia by 172 runs in Group A to book their last eight berth.

Hong Kong will meet Mongolia to determine the final quarter-finals spot tomorrow.

Top four ICC T20i countries, India followed by defending champion Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been seeded directly into the last eight.

On the other hand, Thailand, who qualified to the last eight by virtue of being the fifth best team in the ICC T20i ranking team will be joined by Malaysia, Indonesia and the winner between Hong Kong and Mongolia.

The quarter-finals draw is slated to be held tomorrow while the match will begin on Sept 21 and 22.

The 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games is scheduled to kick off officially on Sept 23 until Oct 8. - Bernama