ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A 33-ball half-century from Bangladesh captain Litton Das handed Hong Kong its second straight loss in the Asia Cup on Thursday.

Litton exhibited wide range of shots to score 59 as Bangladesh cruised to 144-3 for a seven-wicket victory in its opening Group B game.

Hong Kong, which lost to Afghanistan in its opening game, made 143-7 after Litton won the toss and elected to field.

“Very important to win the first game,” Litton said. “Last couple of series, we have played good cricket, but in the Asia Cup, a little bit of pressure comes automatically.”

Litton leads the chase

Litton made a watchful start after Parvez Hossain Emon (19) got deceived by Ayush Shukla’s slower ball and was caught at deep mid-wicket in the third over.

Hong Kong struck once more inside the powerplay when Nizakat Khan ran from mid-off and held onto a catch over his shoulders to dismiss Tanzid Hasan, who struggled to score 14 off 18 balls with only one boundary.

But Litton and Towhid Hridoy (35 not out) ensured Hong Kong didn’t get a sniff to repeat its historic win against Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup in 2014.

Litton scored 26 off 24 balls but pushed the scoring rate when he smashed left-arm spinner Yasim Murtaza for a six over mid-wicket and then pulled the spinner to mid-wicket for two runs to complete his half-century off 33 balls.

Litton, who hit six fours and a six, couldn’t quite finish off the game when he chopped fast bowler Ateeq Iqbal back onto the stumps with Bangladesh needing only two for victory.

Bangladesh restricts Hong Kong

Nizakat (42) and Zeeshan Ali (30) combined in a 41-run third-wicket stand after Hong Kong lost the wickets of Anshy Rath and Babar Hayat inside the first five overs.

Rath got a faint edge and fast bowler Taskin Ahmed won the caught-behind decision through television referral after onfield umpire had ruled in favor of the batter. Hayat was undone by the pace of Tanzim Hasan Sakib and was clean bowled after scoring 14.

Captain Murtaza then made 28 off 19 balls but late wickets denied Hong Kong to finish off well.

Zeeshan was caught at covers and Murtaza was run-out.

Litton called up Rishad Hossain to bowl the 19th over and the leg-spinner, who was wicketless in his first three overs, chipped in with two wickets in his final over to finish with 2-31.

“I am happy with the way our batters scored, but I will be happier if we had got 160-170,” Murtaza said. “Once we go back, we know which area we need to work on and hopefully we do better next time … they (Litton and Hridoy) had a good partnership and that is why the game ended on their side.”

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