an opening win<\/a> in the Asia Cup on Thursday.<\/p>\nBangladesh cruised to 144-3 for a seven-wicket victory after Hong Kong, which lost to Afghanistan in its opening game, made 143-7 after being put in.<\/p>\n
Litton made a watchful start after Parvez Hossain Emon (19) was deceived by Ayush Shukla\u2019s slower ball and was caught at deep mid-wicket in the third over.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong struck once more inside the powerplay when Nizakat Khan ran back 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.<\/p>\n
But Litton and Towhid Hridoy (35 not out) ensured Hong Kong did not get a sniff to repeat its historic win against Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery important to win the first game,\u201d Litton said. \u201cLast couple of series, we have played good cricket, but in the Asia Cup, a little bit of pressure comes automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bangladesh had beaten both Pakistan and Sri Lanka 2-1 in their last two bilateral series.<\/p>\n
![\"Bangladesh's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25254627275356-1757692675.jpg\")
Bangladesh\u2019s Tanzid Hasan, right, and Bangladesh\u2019s Litton Das run between the wickets to score during the Asia Cup Cricket match against Hong Kong [Fatima Shbair\/AP]What is Sri Lanka\u2019s T20 form like?<\/p>\n
An unbeaten 73 from Kamil Mishara led Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in Harare last Sunday to seal a 2-1 win in their Twenty20 series to warm up for the Asia Cup.<\/p>\n
Put in to bat after losing the toss, Zimbabwe made 191-8, but Sri Lanka cruised to the target with 14 balls to spare.<\/p>\n
Mishara and Kusal Perera put on 117 runs in an unbeaten third-wicket stand as Sri Lanka completed a white-ball double, having won the preceding one-day international series against Zimbabwe 2-0.<\/p>\n
Having scored just 35 runs in four previous T20I innings, 24-year-old Mishara made his mark with a match-winning knock, hitting three sixes and six fours from the 43 balls he faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a privilege to win a game for my country, I just feel very good,\u201d said Mishara.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was pressure, of course, but the coaching staff just told me to play my normal game. I just wanted to get into my rhythm and then played my normal game.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of the 2-1 series defeat by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka lost their previous T20 series 2-1 to their hosts, New Zealand, in December and January.<\/p>\n
![\"Sri](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25194555800973-1757692798.jpg\")
Sri Lanka\u2019s Kusal Mendis top-scored with 73 in his side\u2019s win in the opening T20 of the recent bilateral series with Bangladesh [Eranga Jayawardena\/AP]What happened the last time Bangladesh played Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n
Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets to seal their three-game T20 bilateral series earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Having won the toss in Colombo, Sri Lanka were restricted to 132-7 with opener Pathum Nissanka top scoring with 46 off 39 balls for the hosts.<\/p>\n
Only two other batters made it to 20, however, with Dasun Shanaka coming in at seven and hitting 35 off 25 to top up the modest total.<\/p>\n
Shak Mahedi Hasan claimed 4-11 off his four overs for Bangladesh before Tanzid Hasan\u2019s unbeaten 73 off 47 made short work of the chase.<\/p>\n
![\"Bangladesh's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25197611059996-1757692396.jpg\")
Bangladesh\u2019s team members pose for photographers with the winner\u2019s trophy after the third Twenty20 cricket match against Sri Lanka in July [Eranga Jayawardena\/AP]What is Bangladesh\u2019s Asia Cup record?<\/p>\n
Bangladesh have yet to win the Asia Cup, but with each tournament that passes, the experience grows, and with it the expectation that they will soon hold aloft the trophy.<\/p>\n
They have been runners-up on three occasions, the last being the 2018 final, when they were defeated by India by three wickets.<\/p>\n
It was Bangladesh\u2019s third appearance in four finals, with India also claiming victory in the 2016 final and Pakistan beating them in 2012.<\/p>\n
What is Sri Lanka\u2019s Asia Cup record?<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka has claimed six Asia Cup titles already. The islanders last lifted the trophy in 2022, beating Pakistan on home soil by 23 runs in the final.<\/p>\n
Their first victory came in the second edition, in 1986, when they also beat Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Between 1997 and 2008, Sri Lanka won three out of four editions, and were the defeated finalists when Pakistan claimed the title in 2000.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka team news<\/p>\n
After their opening win, Bangladesh look set to be unchanged for the crunch second match in the group.<\/p>\n
Janith Liyanage, meantime, was a late addition to the Sri Lanka squad for the Asia Cup. The seam bowling all-rounder\u2019s addition to the squad means the Sri Lankans have a 17-strong group for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka chopped and changed their way through the bilateral series against Zimbabwe, with Nuwanidu Fernando replaced for the final match by Kusal Perera.<\/p>\n
Kamil Mishara was not selected for the first match of the three-game series, with the former two both playing, but played both the second and third games of the series.<\/p>\n
Maheesh Theekshana also dropped out of the side from the second match to be replaced by Matheesha Pathirana.<\/p>\n
Nuwan Thushara, like Theekshana, played the first match of the series, only to be replaced by Binura Fernando for the final two games.<\/p>\n
Predicted Bangladesh lineup<\/p>\n
Litton Das (c & w), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tawhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed<\/p>\n
Predicted Sri Lanka lineup<\/p>\n
Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (w), Kamil Mishara, Nuwanidu Fernando, Charith Asalanka (c), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Bangladesh vs Sri LankaWhat: Asia Cup T20 Group B matchWhere: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAEWhen: Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[1724,64,63,13047,740,44,588,85,1210],"class_list":{"0":"post-138775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bangladesh","12":"tag-cricket","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sri-lanka"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}