Hong Kong captain Yasim Murtaza praised his team's batting after their second consecutive defeat in the Asia Cup 2025. Hong Kong, which featured in the tournament opener against Afghanistan, has lost both of its group stage matches so far in the mega event. Despite Hong Kong's second straight defeat, skipper Yasim Murtaza found positives in his side’s batting effort.
Hong Kong failed to perform with the bat in the tournament opener against Afghanistan, as the side was bundled out for just 94 runs. However, in their most recent clash against Bangladesh, the side scored 143 runs, with Nizakat Khan as the highest run-getter, scoring 42 runs.
"To be honest, I am happy with the batters but would have been happier if one of them got 60-70+ and got a big total.
"I think we know what we need to work on, hopefully we'll do better next time. We gave too many freebies against Afghanistan, but we came with a plan today and implemented it better. Litton and the other batter though got a good partnership.," said Murtaza after losing against Bangladesh.
Coming back to the match, Bangladesh captain Litton Das led from the front as the side defeated Hong Kong by seven wickets. Bangladesh managed to put a disciplined bowling effort to limit Hong Kong to 143 before Das (59 off 39) scored a solid half-century to anchor his team's chase.
Hong Kong did put Bangladesh under pressure briefly in the run chase before the Test playing nation changed gears to comfortably get the job done in 17.4 overs.
On the other hand, after being asked to bat, Hong Kong's struggles started in the power play, losing two wickets in the first six overs. Opener Zeeshan Ali (30 off 34) played a few good shots, including a six over extra cover off leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, before being dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman in the 12th over.
With a good mix of pacers and spinners, Bangladesh's bowling looked like a potent unit that Hong Kong batters struggled to go after.
Hong Kong captain Yasim Murtaza (28 off 19) tried his best to up the scoring rate with a pick-up shot off Tanzim, going all the way into the stands, which was his standout strike. It was largely due to his efforts that Hong Kong were able to cross the 140-run mark.