Afghanistan vs Hong Kong HIGHLIGHTS, Asia Cup 2025: Atal's 73*, Omarzai's 53 key as AG defeat HK by 94 runs

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: SHOT! Nabi begins the 19th over with a four, smacks a short and wide delivery by Aizaz for a four, over extra cover. Then he takes a single. Aizaz gets a dot and then Atal takes a single. Nabi hammers him for another four, beats short third. Then it is a wide, followed by a dot.

AFG: 72/2 (9)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Nabi goes full throttle here! Drives Aizaz for a four, in the third delivery, past sweeper in the deap. Then gets under the next ball, and slams it for a six over mid-off! Then he takes a single, strike to Atal. Aizaz gets a dot!

AFG: 56/2 (7)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: The fifth over begins with a wide by Shukla, and then Atal drives a full delivery in front of square, for a four, good shot! Goes through the gap! Then he takes a single, gives Nabi the strike. The all-rounder also takes a single and then a double for Atal. The over ends with back-to-back singles.

AFG: 37/2 (5)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: IS THAT A NICK! YES, IT IS! THAT IS ALSO A GOOD CATCH! TWO WICKETS IN TWO OVERS! ZADRAN GOES! HUGE MOMENT FOR HONG KONG!

Back of a length delivery by Iqbal, outside off. Zadran gets a nick, and Zeeshan catches it, good wicketkeeping!

Zadran c Zeeshan b Iqbal 1 (4)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Gurbaz retained the strike and began the third over with a six, shot! Is he back?

NO, HE ISN'T!

No pace by Shukla and Gurbaz goes for another big shot, it lofts and lands in mid-off where Nizakat catches it!

Gurbaz c Nizakat b Shukla 8 (5)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Gurbaz takes a single in the first ball of the second over. Iqbal gets a dot next and then is slammed by Atal, past a diving cover fielder, for a four! Atal got lucky again! Then he takes a single. Iqbal gets another dot and then he edges to backward point for a single.

AFG: 19/0 (2)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Strong start by Atal as he smacks Shukla straightaway for a four, welcome to the Hong Kong bowler. Pulled behind square! Shukla responds with back-to-back dots!

OH NO! DROPPED! THAT WAS CARRIED NICELY AND YOU WOULD HAVE EXPECTED THE SLIP FIELDER TO HOLD ON TO IT! Towards the off stump, Atal pushes, but edges it to the skipper Murtaza at the slips, for an easy catch! He drops it! Atal responds with a four, shot, checked-drive over mid-on! Ends the opening over with a four, got lucky there! The fine leg fielder goes for it, dives, but the ball goes past him and trickles to the boundary!

AFG: 12/0 (1)

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Gurbaz and Atal to open for Afghanistan. SHukla with the new ball for Hong Kong. The action begins!

Both teams are in the middle now, for their respective national anthems!

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Zeeshan Ali(w), Babar Hayat, Anshuman Rath, Kalhan Challu, Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Kinchit Shah, Yasim Murtaza(c), Ayush Shukla, Ateeq Iqbal, Ehsan Khan

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Meanwhile, HK captain 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."

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Speaking after the toss, AFG skipper Rashid 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. 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.."

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Rashid wins the toss and Afghanistan opt to bat.

Both captains will soon arrive for toss! What are your prediction for tonight folks?

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Results have been mixed for Hong Kong this year, but they showed good team spirit. They will look to play fearless cricket tonight! Maybe the could also surprise us all?

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Stay tuned folks! The Asia Cup opener is coming up!! Toss is scheduled for 7:30 PM IST and the first innings will begin at 8:00 PM IST! It is expected to be a blockbuster showdown tonight!

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Both sides last faced each other in 2016 during the T20 World Cup in India. Nabi got the Man of the Match award as Afghanistan defeated Hong Kong.

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Babar Hayat will also be key for Hong Kong, and his all-round game will be a deciding factor tonight. If he clicks with both bat and ball, he will be a huge threat for the Afghans.

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Speaking ahead of the tournament, AFG head coach Jonathan Trott said, "We've perhaps been a bit too reliant on Gurbaz and Ibrahim to get runs. Nobody else has got runs. And we need to find a reason for that. We need to get more batters in who are going to score runs and be more consistent like the openers have been and give us a chance in games. So that's the project for going forward. We've got to find batters who can bat in the middle order in T20 cricket."

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Afghan skipper Rashid Khan slammed the organisers for holding the Asia Cup 2025 press conference in Dubai, hours before the opener vs Hong Kong. Rashid revealed that he and Hong Kong skipper Yasim Murtaza had to travel almost one and hours immediately after the press conference, to play in the game.

"I don’t think this press conference is ideal, that we have to travel from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and back on game day. But we have to be professional and be strong. I have travelled between cities and played matches within hours. In other countries, you travel 3-4 hours to keep playing. You have to be mentally prepared, and that is about being professional. For us, it’s important to keep giving 100% and doing the best we can and leaving everything else to the side," he said.

Ahead of the tournament, Hong Kong opener Anshuman Rath told ESPNcricinfo, "I'm someone who enjoys cricket because of the camaraderie, the team environment. In Odisha, I just wasn't feeling it. I remember once being made fun of for eating rice and dal with a spoon. It sounds silly, but when you have no one to talk to, no support system, those things hit you hard. No matter what level you play, if you're not enjoying it or you're not in the right frame of mind you're wasting your time."

"So I called my dad, literally almost in tears being like, 'what am I doing here? I just don't want to do it.' I had played two years of it, but didn't have anything more to give," he added.

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: The Afghans have their best T20I record in Abu Dhabi, compared to any other ground in the UAE. They have won 11 and lsot five, and their only defeat to Hong Kong was at this venue in 2015.

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Having reintroduced Noor into the side, Afghans favour an extra spinner nowadays. They will look to field Rashid, Nabi and Noor as the spinners.

Afghanistan vs Hong Kong LIVE SCORE, Asia Cup 2025: Hong Kong have appeared in 11 Asia Cup matches, and they have lost all fixtures. They will be seeking their first win!