Asia Cup: Afghanistan invite Hong Kong to bat first in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, Sep 9 Afghanistan have won the toss and opted to bat first against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup opener at Zayed Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said they would like to chase the total, as the pitch looks good for batting.

“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,” he said at the toss.

Hong Kong captain Yasim Murtaza is excited to see how his players perform on the big stage after sealing their spot through the qualifiers.

“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,” he said.

Playing XIs

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Hong Kong : Yasim Murtaza (c), Zeeshan Ali (wk), Nizakat Khan, Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, Ehsan Khan, Kalhan Marc Challu, Ayush Shukla, Aizaz Khan, Ateeq Iqbal, Kinchit Shah

--IANS

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