ABU DHABI: Azmatullah Omarzai hammered a 20-ball fifty as Afghanistan thrashed Hong Kong by 94 runs in the opening match of the Asia Cup on Tuesday.

Afghanistan elected to bat first in Abu Dhabi and posted 188-6 with opener Sediqullah Atal playing the anchor role with an unbeaten 73.

His fifth-wicket partnership of 82 with Omarzai, who hit 53 off 21 balls including two fours and five sixes, proved key for Afghanistan in the Group ‘B’ fixture.

Afghanistan’s bowlers then combined to keep Hong Kong down to 94-9.

“That (middle order coming good) was something I wanted to see, especially Azmatullah (and his innings),” Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said after the match. “If you have good spinners, it puts extra pressure.”

Temperatures early on touched 40 degrees celsius but it was the humidity in the evening that tested the fitness of the players who took regular drinks breaks.

Hong Kong bowlers struck two early blows, but Atal stood firm to put on 51 runs with veteran Mohammad Nabi, who made 33, as the two counter-attacked.

Off-spinner Kinchit Shah broke the stand to dismiss Nabi but Atal raised the run-rate with Omarzai, who raised his first T20I fifty — the fastest by an Afghan batter — with three sixes and a four before his departure.

“Very tough batting in the lower order, all about belief,” said Omarzai. “The captain and coach have belief in me, was trying to back myself and was trying to hit straight with the ball coming on nice.

“We lost early wickets, so I was just speaking to Sediqullah that we will bat till the 16th and then look for boundaries.”

Hong Kong, whose fielders dropped five catches, were never in the chase after they slipped to 22-4 inside five overs including two run-outs.

“I was not expecting that total on the board,” Hong Kong captain Yasim Murtaza said. “At one stage, I was thinking they would get 150. Credit goes to their batters, especially Omarzai, getting 50 off 20 balls, that is a game-changer.”

Tournament favourites India begin their campaign in Group ‘A’ on Wednesday when they face hosts United Arab Emirates in Dubai.

India and Pakistan meet on September 14 in the most awaited match of the T20 tournament, which serves as a build-up for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

SCOREBOARD

AFGHANISTAN:

Sediqullah Atal not out 73

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c N. Khan b Shukla 8

Ibrahim Zadran c Ali b Iqbal 1

Mohammad Nabi c N. Khan b Shah 33

Gulbadin Naib c Murtaza b Shah 5

Azmatullah Omarzai c A. Khan b Shukla 53

Karim Janat c N. Khan b E. Khan 2

Rashid Khan not out 3

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9) 10

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 188

DID NOT BAT: Noor Ahmad, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25 (Gurbaz), 2-26 (Ibrahim), 3-77 (Nabi), 4-95 (Gulbadin), 5-177 (Omarzai), 6-184 (Janat)

BOWLING: Shukla 4-0-54-2 (2w), Iqbal 3-1-32-1 (2w), E. Khan 4-0-28-1 (1w), A. Khan 2-0-26-0 (2w), Murtaza 4-0-23-0 (1w), Shah 3-0-24-2

HONG KONG:

Z. Ali c Nabi b Omarzai 5

A. Rath c Gurbaz b Farooqi 0

B. Hayat c Atal b Naib 39

N. Khan run out 0

K. Challu run out 4

K. Shah c Janat b Noor 6

Y. Murtuza lbw b Naib 16

A. Khan c Nabi b Rashid 6

E. Khan c&b Farooqi 6

A. Shukla not out 1

A. Iqbal not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9) 10

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 94

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Rath), 2-12 (Ali), 3-13 (N. Khan), 4-22 (Challu), 5-43 (Shah), 6-63 (Hayat), 7-78 (A. Khan), 8-91 (Murtuza), 9-93

(E. Khan)

BOWLING: Farooqi 3-0-16-2 (2w), Omarzai 2-0-4-1, Ghazanfar 2-0-4-0, Rashid 4-0-23-1, Noor 4-0-16-1 (2w), Naib 3-0-8-2 (1w), Janat 2-0-21-0

RESULT: Afghanistan won by 94 runs.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2025