Bangladesh restrict Hong Kong to 143 in Asia Cup clash

The haunting memory of that shock defeat on home soil 11 years ago kept coming back. To put a balm on that wound, Bangladesh faced Hong Kong today in the Asia Cup. Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan gave Bangladesh a flying start with the ball, and the momentum was maintained until the final over. Although Liton Das's side could not bowl Hong Kong out, they managed to keep the scoring under control. Bangladesh now need 144 runs for victory after restricting Hong Kong to 143 for 7 in 20 overs.

At the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh captain Liton Das won the toss and opted to field first. Despite the sluggish outfield, there was extra bounce and swing on the pitch. Taskin and Tanzim made full use of that. In just the second over, Taskin provided the breakthrough when Anshuman Rath (4) tried to play a length delivery straight but only edged it to wicketkeeper Liton. Though the on-field umpire rejected the appeal, Bangladesh overturned the decision successfully on review.

In the fifth over, Tanzim Hasan Sakib bowled Babar Hayat with a superb delivery. Just the ball before, Babar (14) had lofted him for a six over long-on. Tanzim's expression made it clear the next ball would be payback, and so it proved. Again advancing down the pitch, Babar was deceived by late swing and lost his stumps.

Hong Kong's batting never really sparkled in the powerplay, while Bangladesh's pacers dominated. After six overs, Hong Kong had crawled to just 34 for 2. Nizakat Khan, a member of the side that defeated Bangladesh in the 2014 T20 World Cup, then tried to rebuild with Zeeshan Ali.

Their 41-run stand ended in the 12th over when Tanzim's short delivery tempted Zeeshan (30) into a pull shot. From midwicket, Mustafizur Rahman ran in to complete a fine catch. Tanzim conceded no runs in that over, though he later gave away 14 in his final over to finish with figures of 4-0-21-2. Impressively, his economy rate has stayed below six across his last four T20 innings.

Mehidy Hasan, who opened the bowling, completed his quota without success, conceding 28 runs in four overs. By the 15th over, Bangladesh had not added many wickets but successfully choked the scoring. The fielding was sharp, though Parvez Hossain Emon injured his wrist while stopping a ball and had to leave the field.

Bangladesh's fourth wicket came via a run-out, when Rishad Hossain and Mustafiz combined to dismiss captain Yasim Murtaza and break a 43-run stand. Yasim made 28 off 19 with two fours and two sixes.

Nizakat tried to accelerate but was dismissed for 42 off 40 balls (2 fours, 1 six) by Rishad, who also removed Kinchit Shah with his final delivery. The leg-spinner finished with 2 for 31 from four overs. Taskin claimed a wicket in the last over, ending with 2 for 38 from his four. Like Tanzim and Rishad, he bagged two scalps to round off a disciplined bowling effort.