Dubai [UAE], September 9 (ANI): Ahead of his side's Asia Cup campaign opener against Hong Kong on Tuesday, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said that the team aims to keep things simple, which contributed to their recent success in ICC events.

The Asia Cup T20I edition will kickstart with a contest between Afghanistan and Hong Kong in Dubai on Tuesday.

Afghanistan is heading into the tournament as dark-horse contenders. Over the last four to five years, the team has made a lot of strides in white-ball cricket, finishing sixth in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India with wins over defending champions England and former WC winners Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

In the T20 World Cup held in the USA and the West Indies next year, Afghans continued their giant-killing spree, beating New Zealand and Australia on their way to a historic semifinal finish.

Speaking in Dubai ahead of their match, Rashid said, 'I think for us it is to keep things simple as we did in the last couple of ICC events. I think we did not put that extra pressure on and said that we have to get to semis, we have to get to finals.'

Rashid said that a spot in the semifinals or finals comes only after putting in work and effort on the field.

'We always think of putting 100 per cent effort on the ground. It is the main thing. And to get any achievement is great. We never thought about getting into the semis in the World Cup. And we got it in the West Indies. So that was huge. But before that, we worked hard. I think we worked really, really hard and put the effort we needed into the ground, and the result came. So for us, it is the same. We keep it simple. We put in the hard work and let's see what the result is,' he added.

Since last year's T20 World Cup, Afghanistan has featured in eight T20Is, winning five and losing three. While they secured the bilateral series against Zimbabwe away from home in December last year by 2-1, they lost their most recent outing, the tri-nation series final to Pakistan in the UAE. They ended the tri-series with three wins and two losses.

Led by skipper Rashid Khan, with a young left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed, a 19-year-old right-armer Allah Ghazanfar and a crafty, 40-year-old right-armer Mohammed Nabi, Afghanistan has an extremely solid spin attack. If the tracks in Dubai turn out to be slow and offer turn, they could easily make a quick snack out of their opposition. Despite his recent occasional struggles, Rashid has been in solid form in T20Is leading up to the Asia Cup, with nine scalps in four matches at an average of 12.77, with an economy rate of 7.18.

Finishing as finalists in the tri-nation series held in Sharjah, Afghanistan has spent some time in the UAE, while not in the Asia Cup venues of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. While the conditions may vary at these two venues, the Rashid-led team has enjoyed some success and the advantage of already having played in the UAE. As suggested by the top five in the wicket-takers list being dominated by spinners, conditions in Sharjah were highly spin-friendly, and this could be the same in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Afghanistan's batting is not in the best shape heading into the tournament, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, their frontline batter, struggling for runs right now, having made just 104 runs in eight appearances at an average of 15.50 and a strike rate of 104.20, just after finishing as top run-getter in the T20 World Cup with 281 runs in eight matches, including three fifties.

Their batting average of 20.96 is third-lowest behind Sri Lanka (20.88) and Pakistan (19.84), while viewed collectively, their strike rate of 117.07 is second-lowest, with Oman lagging behind with a strike rate of 111.71. Amongst all the Test-playing nations, Afghanistan has the lowest strike rate in this year's Asia Cup. Also, their batters have just six fifty-plus scores (no centuries) in 66 innings, the lowest amongst all the participants heading into the tournament since the T20 World Cup 2024.

Afghanistan has played eight T20Is heading into the Asia Cup, the least among all participants, with even non-Test-playing countries like Oman (15), Hong Kong (27), and UAE (29) having much better game time and preparation. While the participation in T20 leagues worldwide is definitely a plus and Afghans form a massive part of these competitions, the intensity and stakes are not as high as this coveted continental affair.

Afghanistan squad for Asia Cup: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Farid Malik, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi. (ANI)