The solid knocks from Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai have powered Afghanistan to post a competitive total in the Asia Cup 2025 game against Hong Kong.
Sediqullah’s unbeaten 73* and Omarzai’s quick 53 have helped the side to post 188 runs on the scoreboard.
Sediqullah Atal and Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the innings for Afghanistan, while Ayush Shukla opened the bowling attack.
Ayush Shukla brought the first dismissal, bagging the wickets of Gurbaz for 8 runs, while Ateeq Iqbal bagged the wicket of Ibrahim Zadran for 1 run.
With Sediqullah Atal and Mohammad Nabi at the crease, Afghanistan scored 41 runs in the powerplay.
Kinchit Shah went on to bag the wickets of Nabi and Naib for 33 and 5 runs, while Atal went on to score steadily.
Sediqullah Atal went on to smash his third fifty helping the side to cross 100 run mark. However, Azmatullah Omarzai made a quick 21 ball 53 which included 2 fours and five sixes has helped the side to cross 150 run mark.
INNINGS CHANGE! 🔁#AfghanAtalan finished the first inning at 188/6, with Sediqullah Atal (73*), @AzmatOmarzay (53), and @MohammadNabi007 (33) putting on some terrific efforts with the bat. 👏
Over to our bowling unit now…! 👍#AsiaCup2025 | #GloriousNationVictoriousTeam pic.twitter.com/ZOUcW5wR2b
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) September 9, 2025
With Omarzai’s dismissal for 53 runs by Shukla, Karim Janat lost his wicket for 2 runs. With Rashid Khan’s 3* and Sediqullah’s 73* runs has helped the side to set 189 run target for Hong Kong.
Speaking at the toss, Rashid Khan said, “We would like to bat first. It looks like a good wicket to put runs on the board, good total on the board will help the bowlers.
“In T20 it does not matter if you win the toss or not, but you have to give yourself the best opportunity to pick wickets in the middle period,” added Rashid.
“It is already behind us, we are well focussed on the game today, even if we had won the final we would have focussed on the game today and how to win. Just one change – Gulbadin is back,” concluded Rashid Khan.
Meanwhile, Yasim Murtaza said, “We wanted to bowl first. I am happy to bowl. We worked hard to get here. We played good cricket in the qualifiers. As a captain I am looking forward to see how Kalhan Challu will do on the big stage.”
