Bangladesh A Team made a flying start in the eight-team ACC Men's T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup' 2024 beating Hong Kong National team by five wickets with 10 balls remaining in the opening match at the Al Amerat Cricket ground in Oman on Friday.
Sent into bat first, Hong Kong team scored 150 for 8 in 20 overs featuring 65 runs in the 3rd wicket stand by Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat.
Two down Babar Hayat hammered the match highest and polished 85 runs off 61 balls hitting two fours and seven sixes while captain Nizakat Khan scored 20-ball 25 runs with one four and a six
Bangladeshi pacer Ripon Mondal made major damage in Hong Kong innings grabbing four wickets for 24 runs and was adjudged player of the match.
Besides, Mahfuzur Rahman Rabbi, Rakibul Hasan, Rejaur Rahman Raja and Abu Hider took one wicket each.
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Chasing a target of 151 runs, the 2nd string Bangladesh team easily reached their ultimate goal scoring the match -winner 151 runs for the loss of five wickets in 18.2 overs,featuring 54 runs in the 4th wicket stand by Towhid Hridoy and Akbar Ali.
Captain Akbar Ali, who also led Bangladesh to win the historic U-19 World Cup in 2020, scored the team highest 45 runs off 24 balls featuring four fours and three sixes while Towhid Hridoy made 29 runs off 22 balls with two hits to fence and one over the fence.
Besides, Parvez Hossain Emon (28), Shamim Hossain (19) and opener Jishan Alam (11) were the other notable batsmen for Bangladesh reaching the double figure.
Ehsan Khan claimed three Bangladesh wickets conceding 12 runs in quota of four overs.
The ongoing tournament now played on T20 format for the first time.
The previous three editions of the meet was played in a 50 over a side match with Pakistan winning the title twice and the other one by India.
Eight teams, split into two groups, are competing in the tournament with the top two teams from each of the group progressing to the semifinals billed for October 25.
The grand finale of the inaugural T20 tournament will take place on October 27.
Bangladesh A team put in Group A with Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan A and Hong Kong National team while Group B team consists of India A, Pakistan A, UAE and Oman National team.
In the remaining group matches, Bangladesh will play Afghanistan on Oct 21 and Sri Lanka on Oct 23.