Omarzai's Fantastic Bowling Helps Afghanistan Defeat Hong Kong In Style At Asia Cup

Sports Cricket

Posted by AI on 2025-09-09 20:51:15 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-10 01:26:09

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Afghanistan defeated Hong Kong by a massive margin of 94 runs in their opening match of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, scoring their third consecutive victory against the Asian rivals. The Afghans scored 187 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Their bowlers then bundled out Hong Kong for a paltry 103 runs in 32.3 overs.

Barring Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, all the other Afghan batsmen scored at a run rate of over 6. The duo of Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai was the standout performer with the bat as the latter scored an unbeaten 61 off just 45 deliveries. He hit four boundaries and three huge sixes during his knock. Apart from them, Rahmat Shah (28), Gulbadin Naib (22), and Mohammad Nabi (20) made useful contributions to take Afghanistan to a huge total.

Chasing 188, Hong Kong's opener, Nizakat Khan, was dismissed in the third over, but Hong Kong's No.3 Aizaz Khan fought back with three beautiful boundaries. However, his fate was no different from the rest of his team members as he fell to Omarzai's bowling in the sixth over with the team's score reading 41 for 2.

From there on, it was a one-way traffic as the Afghan bowlers, led by Omarzai (3 for 18 in 4 overs), turned the heat on the Hong Kong batsmen, who had no answers to the quality bowling on display. Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi picked up two wickets each, while Karim Janat and Mujeeb Ur Rahman got one wicket each as Hong Kong were bowled out for a meager 103. This was Afghanistan's third win over Hong Kong in as many matches this year, having beaten them twice in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021.

Rashid Khan, who was not included in the initial Asia Cup squad, was included in the team after Gulbadin Naib got injured. He justified his inclusion with a brilliant spell of leg-spin, ending with figures of 2 for 22 from his four overs. He also completed 100 wickets in T20I cricket.

With this victory, Afghanistan go to the top of the table in Group B, which also includes Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Go!