Afghanistan will play Hong Kong at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on September 9 to kick off the Asia Cup 2025. This match is part of Group B, which also includes Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Afghanistan will enter this Asia Cup 2025 encounter having lost to Pakistan in the Sharjah tri-series final. They did well enough to get to the summit clash, but the green shirts had total control.
Here is the predicted Afghanistan XI for match 1 of Asia Cup 2025:
Top Order:
Afghanistan’s innings is probably going to start with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal, with Gurbaz taking wickets. Both are renowned for their aggressive batting approaches; Gurbaz has amassed 1781 runs, including a century, at a strike rate of 132.71 in 71 Twenty20 Internationals. Atal, however, has two fifties and 250 runs in 13 T20Is. Ibrahim Zadran has 1299 runs in 49 T20Is with 10 fifties and holds the batting together
Middle Order:
Karim Janat has four fifties and 750 runs in 72 games. Azmatullah Omarzai has 512 runs and 32 wickets in 52 games. Nabi has taken 101 wickets at an economy rate of 7.25 and amassed 2249 runs in 136 games, including six fifties, at a strike rate of 135.23.
Lower Order:
Darwish Rasooli has 149 runs in 13 games in his short career this far. With 168 wickets in 99 games, a best of 5/3, and an economy of 6.06, Rashid Khan leads Afghanistan in T20Is in wicket-takers list. With 522 runs with a strike rate of 130.17, Rashid has showed that he is handy with the bat as well.
Bowlers:
Fazalhaq Farooqiis likely to be the only genuine pacer in the XI, while Noor Ahmad and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will be the two specialist spinners. So far in their T20I careers, Noor has taken 12 wickets, while Mujeeb has taken 65. In 47 games, Farooqi has claimed 59 wickets.
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