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New Delhi: All-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai scripted history at the Asia Cup 2025 opening encounter after he became the quickest half-centurion for Afghanistan in the format. During the first match of the continental event against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi, Omarzai was dismissed for 53 runs in just 21 balls to record the fastest fifty for the team in T20Is, reaching to his half-ton in just 20 balls.
His star-studded knock included five massive sixes and two boundaries as he unleashed his beast mode to push the Hong Kong bowlers against the wall and also lift the score of his team. By virtue of his power-packed knock, Afghanistan managed to score 78 runs off the last 5 overs of the innings, lifting their overall total to 188/6 in the stipulated 20 overs.
With this, Omarzai broke the record jointly-held by Afghan players Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib, who had smashed half-centuries in the format in just 21 balls. Apart from Omarzai, Sediqullah Atal played a brilliant knock of 71 runs up front to set the perfect base for the Afghanistan team. His unbeaten knock of 52 balls included 6 fours and 3 sixes as he was successful in standing tall for the team from the beginning till the end.
Apart from these two batters who proved to be the major contributors, Mohammad Nabi also added valuable 33 runs in the middle to push the scoring which had slowed down during the middle overs. For Hong Kong, Ayush Shukla and Kinchit Shah proved to be the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets apiece while Ateeq Iqbal and Ehsan Khan also claimed a wicket each.
Hong Kong dropped five catches in today's match which became the most in a team innings in the T20 Asia Cup. Both the sides would look to start their campaign with a win and stay upfront ahead of their remaining league matches.
