Bangladesh vs Hong Kong: Mustafizur Rahman, Rishad Hossain and Taskin Ahmed made headlines during this Asia Cup 2025 fixture

On expected lines, Bangladesh started their Asia Cup campaign with a comfortable seven-wicket win against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on Thursday (September 11). Their bowlers set things up by restricting Hong Kong to an under-par total of 143 on a decent batting surface and then, skipper Litton Das along with Towhid Hridoy stitched a match-winning partnership to seal the deal for the Tigers. The game was done with 14 balls to spare and the only point of discussion was whether Bangladesh could have tried to win the game earlier to boost their net run rate. Nevertheless, it was a solid win for them with their pacers doing the bulk of the damage.

Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman stole the thunder for different reasons in this fixture. Taskin equalled veteran Shakib Al Hasan's Bangladesh record for the most PowerPlay wickets in T20Is when he got rid of Anshuman Rath in the second over of the game. The decision wasn't given on-field and Bangladesh then reviewed successfully to get the southpaw's scalp. It was Taskin's 37th wicket in the PowerPlay and with Shakib no longer in the mix for international cricket, the pacer should in all likelihood break the record in this tournament itself. Apart from this landmark, Taskin had an unusual game as he was the most expensive of Bangladesh's bowlers, conceding 38 off his four overs with two wickets to his name.

Meanwhile, Rishad Hossain had another steady outing, returning figures of 2-31 from his four overs and in the process, got past the milestone of 50 wickets in T20Is, the sixth Bangladesh player to achieve this feat. He is also only the third spinner from his country to get this landmark after Shakib and fellow teammate Mahedi Hasan. However, the leggie's strike-rate is the best among all Bangladesh bowlers who have taken 50-plus wickets in the shortest format. Bangladesh captain Litton Das acknowledged Rishad's meteoric rise as a key component of the team's bowling unit.

"In the last few years our pace bowling department has done very well, and all we were looking for was a leg spinner and Rishad has done very well," remarked Litton at the post-match presentation ceremony after the win against Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Mustafizur Rahman had another excellent outing, conceding just 22 runs off his four overs that were filled with clever pace variations. However, the left-arm seamer went wicketless, the first instance for him this year. Nevertheless, 2025 has been a stellar year for the veteran whose economy has been a mind-boggling 4.39 from eight matches.