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ABU DHABI: Hong Kong captain Yasim Murtaza shared he was pleased with his team’s batting unit’s performance in their seven-wicket defeat against Bangladesh in the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 here at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Put into bat first, Hong Kong managed to accumulate 143/7 in their allotted 20 overs, with the middle-order duo of Nizakat Khan and Murtaza leading the charge with gutsy knocks.

Hong Kong looked in control to amass a big total when Nizakat and Murtaza were in the middle and started dominating Bangladesh’s bowlers during their brisk 46-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

But Murtaza’s run out halted their progress, and they could only add 26 more to their total in the remaining 17 deliveries and eventually settled for 143/7.

Despite falling short of registering a defendable total, Murtaza, while speaking at the post-match presentation, shared he was delighted with the way their batters scored but urged that he would be happier had they scored around the 170-run mark.

He further shared that they identified the area they need to work on during the defeat and expressed his hope for a better performance ‘next time’.

“I am happy with the way our batters scored. But I will be happier if we got 160-170 plus - that would be a different total,” said Murtaza.

“These things happen, so I don't mind. Once we go back, we know which area we need to work on and hopefully we do better next time,” he added.

Citing their crushing defeat in the campaign opener against Afghanistan, Murtaza asserted that Hong Kong came with a plan against Bangladesh and implemented it.

“We gave too many freebies (against Afghanistan). Today, we came up with the plan, and this is what we implemented. They (Litton and Hridoy) had a good partnership, a nd that is why the game ended on their side.”