DUBAI: Historically, India have been clinical dismantlers of Associate opposition. Before Zimbabwe played their first Test match, India beat them five times in five ODI meetings. It was eight out of eight in Bangladesh’s case. And in 27 ODI meetings with all other Associate teams and pre-Test-status Ireland and Afghanistan, they have only lost twice – both times to Kenya. Could Hong Kong do a Kenya on Tuesday? Probably not. But as Kenya discovered in Gwalior over 20 years ago, 45-degree heat can cause strange things to happen. Dubai on Tuesday will be almost as hot. And having played against Hong Kong in that heat, India will return to the same venue on Wednesday to face Pakistan. That could mean India, already without Virat Kohli, rest a few more big names, giving Hong Kong a slightly bigger chance of pulling off something spectacular. Could it happen? Probably not. But the potential for an upset lies in what this game means to the two sides. For India, it is the first of two back-to-back matches in extreme weather conditions, and a potential banana peel in a not-hugely-consequential tournament squeezed into an already packed calendar. For Hong Kong, who have only just lost their ODI status this year, it’s a massive occasion and an exceedingly rare opportunity to face a cricketing superpower. In the spotlight: Since the start of the Asia Cup Qualifiers, Christopher Carter has been playing as a specialist batsman, with the keeper’s gloves going to Scott McKechnie. He made 33 in the final against UAE, but his batting returns otherwise haven’t been great – he’s only crossed 20 once in 10 ODIs, and averages 15.57 in List A cricket. Carter is set to join a flight school and train as a pilot later this year. Before he puts a temporary stop on his Hong Kong career, he’d be itching to end his stint with a big score. Another ODI tournament, same old question for India: what to do with the middle order? In the absence of Kohli, and with MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya settled into the roles of keeper-batsman and allrounder respectively, India will have five batsmen – Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu – fighting for three spots. By the end of this tournament, India may well have a clearer picture of their first-choice middle order. Or not. Team news: They were brushed aside by Pakistan, but Hong Kong might not make too many changes; they played the same XI for the last three matches of their successful Qualifiers campaign. Given the 40-degree heat of Dubai, and the fact that they play Pakistan the day after meeting Hong Kong, India might choose to rest some of their first-choice players. That might mean a debut for the left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed. “Excited to see Khaleel play,” Rohit Sharma said in the pre-match press conference. “He’s got what it takes. Pace, swing. Personally looking forward to him doing well.” Squads: Hong Kong (possible): 1 Nizakat Khan, 2 Anshuman Rath (capt), 3 Babar Hayat, 4 Kinchit Shah, 5 Christopher Carter, 6 Ehsan Khan, 7 Aizaz Khan, 8 Scott McKechnie (wk), 9 Tanwir Afzal, 10 Ehsan Nawaz, 11 Nadeem Ahmed. India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 MS Dhoni/Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya/Axar Patel, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah/Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal. Published in Daily Times, September 18th 2018.