Bangladesh A team got off to a winning start in the sixth edition of the ACC Emerging Asia Cup, beating Hong Kong by five wickets in their Group A first match at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman on Friday.
Captain Akbar Ali smashed a 24-ball 45 that featured four boundaries and three sixes as Bangladesh chased down the 151-run target comfortably with 10 balls to spare after Ripon Mondol鈥檚 heroics, who finished with figures of 4-24.
Sent to bat first, Hong Kong started poorly as Ripon scalped two crucial wickets in the third over, leaving the Hong Kong 9-2.
Then, right-handed batter Babar Hayat top-scored for Hong Kong with 85 off 61 deliveries and added a 63-run partnership with skipper Nizakat Khan, who scored 25 runs.
Hong Kong lost wickets at regular intervals, while Ripon wreaked havoc in the slog overs despite a late cameo from Ehsan Khan 13 that propelled them to a respectable total of 150-8 in 20 overs.
Ripon was the standout performer for Bangladesh, while others took one wicket apiece.
In reply, Bangladesh made a steady start as their openers, Jishan Alam and Parvez Hossain Emon, put up 32 runs for the first wicket.聽
Hong Kong then got back into the game with two back-to-back wickets. Emon played some nice shots in his innings of 28 runs but fell shortly after the powerplay, leaving Bangladesh at 55-3.聽
While Jishan made 11, and Saif Hasan got dismissed for just five.
Akbar and Towhid Hridoy (29) then put up a quickfire match-winning 54-run partnership for the fourth wicket and Shamim Hossain scored 18 to complete the chase.
Ehsan was the pick of the bowlers for Hong Kong with 3-12.
Bangladesh will face Afghanistan and Sri Lanka next on October 20 and 22, respectively.