Liton Das starred with a half-century as Bangladesh kicked off their T20 Asia Cup 2025 campaign with a seven-wicket victory against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi.
Chasing Hong Kong's total of 143 for 7, Bangladesh reached the target with 14 balls to spare.
Winning the toss and electing to field, Bangladesh's bowlers put the pressure on early as Taskin Ahmed struck in the second over, dismissing opener Anshy Rath.
Hong Kong's Zeeshan Ali (30 runs off 34 balls) and Nizakat Khan provided some stability, with Nizakat going on to be the top scorer with 42 runs off 40 balls.
However, timely wickets from Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rishad Hossain, who each took two wickets along with Taskin, kept the scoring in check.
In their chase, Bangladesh had a shaky start as openers Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan were dismissed within the first six overs.
But that set the stage for Liton Das and Towhid Hridoy to take control.
Skipper Liton played a brilliant innings, initially starting slow before accelerating to a match-winning 59 runs off just 39 balls, including six boundaries and one six.
Although Liton was bowled just two runs away of victory, Hridoy (35 runs off 36 balls) saw the team home, hitting the winning run to complete the chase.
Bangladesh's next match is against Sri Lanka on Saturday.