Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai made blazing fifties while the bowlers supported them with a tidy effort as Afghanistan easily tamed Hong Kong by 94 runs to start their Asia Cup campaign on a winning note here on Tuesday. Once Afghanistan survived early jitters through Atal (73 not out off 52 balls) and Omarzai (53 off 21 balls) to make 188 for six, the result was locked.
The Afghan bowlers, led by Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/16) and Gulbadin Naib (2/8), completed the formality, keeping Hong Kong to 94 for nine. Their chase never really took off as Hong Kong lost four wickets inside the Power Play phase, to be left reeling at 23 for four. The scoreboard pressure was evident on them, resulting in two needless run outs of Nizakat Khan and Kalhan Challu.
Challu came out a tad too much off the bowling off Omarzai, who hit the stumps before the batter returned to the crease. Opener Anshuman Rath was their biggest hope for making a sound start. But he got out in the second ball of the innings, playing a loose on-the-up drive outside off-stump off Farooqi to be caught behind by Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Once the top four batters returned to the hut contributing almost nothing, the Hong Kong middle and late-order batters did not have the technical nous or the patience to battle it out against the experienced Afghanistan bowlers. Babar Hayat top-scored for Hong Kong with 39 off 43 balls, but it was not even a token fight.
Earlier, Atal and Omarzai helped Afghanistan tide over their top-order batters’ struggle against pace-off deliveries to reach a healthy total. Atal and Omarzai judged the nature of the pitch to perfection, and played accordingly while waiting for their chances to free the arm. The left-handed opener Atal began with a slew of boundaries against new ball in the Power Play segment once Afghanistan opted to bat first, but soon settled into a calmer tempo.
He fetched his fifty, third in T20Is, in 41 balls, and between the 5th and 13th over, there was only one big shot — a pull off off-spinner Kinchit Shah over mid-wicket for a six. Shah deserved a special mention for tying up the usually hard-hitting Afghan batters with a series of under-cutters, that they failed either to read or work around for singles.
Mohammad Nabi (33 off 26 balls) took a few balls to find his range, but once he slipped into the rhythm the veteran all-rounder hammered pacer Aizaz Khan for a four and six in successive balls. But that proved a false dawn as Nabi fell to Shah while trying to clear the long-off fielder.
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Nizakat Khan took a simple catch to end the promising 51 runs stand for the third wicket and soon the Afghans were struggling at 95 for four after 13 overs. Atal had a massive slice of fortune too when Ehsan Khan dropped a dolly at short third man off left-arm spinner Yasim Murtaza.
The Afghan batter was on 51 then and he punished Hong Kong bowlers adding 82 runs for the fifth wicket with Omarzai, who clobbered pacer Ayush Shukla for 6, 6, 6, and 4 in successive balls of the 19th over. Atal plundered pacer Ateeq Iqbal for two consecutive sixes — over long on and square leg respectively — and then a paddle sweep for four as Afghanistan found some late momentum, milking 25 runs from the 17th over and 78 runs in the final five overs. Overall, Hong Kong also struggled with their fielding in the later stages of the innings, as they grassed Omarzai as well.
