Bangladesh beaten Hong Kong by 7 wickets in their Asia Cup 2025 opener. Skipper Litton Das made 59 off 39 balls and Taskin and Tanzim dominated the bowling attack to win handsomely in Abu Dhabi.

Bangladesh started their Asia Cup 2025 journey with a resounding seven-wicket victory over Hong Kong courtesy of the excellent half-century of skipper Litton Das.

During the first match in Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh was totally in command, they only allowed Hong Kong 143 runs and then hit the target with extra time in 17.4 overs. This win provides Bangladesh with a good opening in the tournament as Hong Kong dropped to their second defeat in a row.

Litton Das Anchors the Chase

Litton Das, the Bangladesh captain, saved the situation scoring a match-winning 59 off 39 balls in the middle of the innings despite starting off badly. He walked his knock with a cunning skill, changing gears where necessary and flying a cocktail of boundaries, one of them, his famous slog-sweep six off Yasim Murtaza. The the Tigers had made the game: his 95 run partnership with Towhid Hridoy (35 off 36)* had won the game.

Young opener Parvez Hossain Emon (19 off 14) offered Bangladesh a fast start but following the powerplay the team entered a go-scorerless streak of 33 balls. Das though remained calm and took his team out of the rut before Hridoy hit the winning runs.

Taskin-Tanzim Duo Destroys the Best of Hongkong.

Bowling attack had previously given the Bengali of Bangladesh the same tone with a disciplined effort. Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan Sakib used swing and seam movement on the new ball and broke down the top order of Hong Kong.

• Taskin started off by firing Anshuman Rath (4).
• Babar Hayat (14) was removed by a peach of an outswinger Tanzim bowled to him after he was struck a six on the last delivery.

Hong Kong had been brought down to 34/2 in powerplay and never were able to recover completely.

Middle-Order Resistance Fails.

Opener Zeeshan Ali (30 off 34) and skipper Yasim Murtaza (28 off 19) put up some resistance however, the pace-spin of Bangladesh was too heavy. To make sure that Hong Kong did not fast track, Mustafizur Rahman and Rishad Hossain made sure that there were regular breakthroughs.

Eventually 143 was not going to suffice against a strong-willed Bangladesh team.

Key points

• The best performance was the knock of the captain Litton Das (59 off 39).
• The composed performance by Towhid Hridoy at times of pressure was mature.
• The conditions in Abu Dhabi were used brilliantly by Bangladesh pacers Taskin and Tanzim.
• Hong Kong lost their second consecutive defeat which threatened their future asia cup 2025.

What’s Next?

Bangladesh will seek to take this momentum into the next fixtures as they meet harder competition in the remaining fixtures whereas Hong Kong will have to hope they can get a quick turnaround to remain in the Asia Cup 2025.