Asia Cup 2025: Afghanistan hammer Hong Kong in opener
What's the story
Afghanistan claimed a one-sided win over Hong Kong in the 2025 T20 Asia Cup at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The Rashid Khan-led side racked up 188/6 before restricting Hong Kong to 94/9. A concerted effort from the Afghan bowlers did the job. Earlier, half-centuries from Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai bolstered Afghanistan, who elected to bat. Here are the key stats.
Shaky Start
Atal, Omarzai rescue Afghanistan after shaky start
Afghanistan's innings started on a shaky note, being down to 26/2 in the Powerplay. However, Atal adapted well to the sluggish pitch, playing cautiously at first before unleashing his aggressive strokes. Atal took Afghanistan past 70 with Mohammad Nabi, but HK choked Afghanistan with two quick wickets. Atal and Omarzai rescued the Afghans from 95/4, having accelerated in the last four overs.
Death overs
Late surge from Afghanistan
The last few overs saw a late surge from Atal and Omarzai, who went after the seamers. Both the 17th and 19th overs produced 24-plus runs. The Afghan duo stitched an 82-run stand for the fifth wicket, taking Afghanistan to a strong 188/6. Atal remained unbeaten on 73 off 52 balls, while Omarzai scored a quickfire 53 off just 21 deliveries.
Atal
Three T20I half-centuries for Atal
All three of Atal's T20I half-centuries have come in his last four games. He previously scored 54 against UAE and 64 against Pakistan during the T20I Tri-Series. In 14 T20Is, Atal has raced to 323 runs at an average of 24.84. His strike rate of 114.94 requires massive improvement. Overall, the Afghan batter got past 2,150 T20 runs.
Omarzai
Blazing knock from Omarzai
Afghanistan were staring at a collapse at 95/4 when Omarzai came in. Although Sediqullah Atal stood firm, the Afghans required someone to be out all guns blazing. While Atal accelerated in the 17th over, Omarzai hammered Ayush Shukla for three successive sixes. He completed his 20-ball half-century in the same over. His knock, which was ended by Shukla, had 2 fours and 5 sixes.
Information
Fastest T20I fifty for Afghanistan
As per ESPNcricinfo, Omarzai now has the fastest half-century for Afghanistan in T20I cricket. He surpassed Mohammad Nabi (2017) and Gulbadin Naib (2024), each of whom slammed a 21-ball half-century.
Hong Kong
How the Hong Kong innings panned out
Hong Kong started poorly, losing both openers Anshuman Rath and Zeeshan Ali in the first two overs. Although Babar Hayat held his end, Nizakat Khan and Kalhan Challu departed with untimely run-outs. Hayat finally fell to Naib after scoring a 43-ball 39. With HK down to 78/7, the match was merely a formality thereafter. They crawled to 94/9, losing by as many runs.
Numbers
A look at other notable numbers
As per Cricbuzz, Omarzai and Atal now have the highest stand (82) for the fifth wicket or lower in the T20 Asia Cup. Gulbadin Naib, who departed for 5, raced to 2,500 runs in T20 cricket. He also completed 100 wickets. UAE's Ayush Shukla took 2/54, the joint second-most expensive spell in the Asia Cup history alongside Zeeshan Maqsood's 1/54 against Hong Kong.
Do you know?
Hong Kong drop five catches
Hong Kong were sloppy in the field, dropping as many as five catches, the most in a T20 Asia Cup innings, as per Cricbuzz. Notably, three of those drops involved Atal.