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Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was pleased about the manner in which his side coasted to an emphatic 94-run victory with consummate ease in the Asia Cup opener against Hong Kong at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
It wasn’t a walk in the park as the scoreline suggested, with Rashid underlining how losing early wickets remains a sign of worry for Afghanistan, and figuring out the team combination, which includes dropping his top stars like Mujeeb Ur Rahman, remains a “tough call”.
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Afghanistan wilted at 110/4 after 15 overs, while the visage of Hong Kong players suggested that they were cock-a-hoop with their performance. But the past mistakes returned to haunt Hong Kong with Sediqullah Atal, who was dropped thrice in the first innings, bludgeoned 25 runs off Ateeq Iqbal in the 17th over.
Azmatullah Omarzai brought thunder down the ground and tonked three towering maximums on the trot to bring up his maiden T20I fifty in the 19th. Before losing his wicket, Omarzai ensured that Afghanistan garnered 24 runs from the penultimate over off Ayush Shukla. Afghanistan blazed its way to a daunting 188/6, courtesy of a staggering 78 runs from the last five overs.
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“It was a great game. Good to put the total on the board. In the last series as well, (losing) early wickets – that is very key for us, and we must investigate it. That’s one area we need to improve. Batting in the death overs was a great effort. Especially Omarzai. We have good spinners,” Rashid said in the post-match presentation.
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It puts pressure on the opposition. When you put runs on the board, batters will take risks, and we have a chance to pick wickets. We will try to have a good record while chasing as well. Tough ask to see what is the playing XI.-TIN Bureau
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