What a performance we witnessed today from Sohan. His knock finished this match way before its scheduled time. That's it from our live coverage of this match. This is Mohammad Anab, signing off on behalf of my colleagues Arjun Bhalla, Sachin Yadav and Aman. Cheers.
Biggest victories for Bangladesh A in T20s (in terms of balls): 54 - Against Hong Kong, Doha, 2025, Today*
21 - Against Bangladesh, Mirpur, 2013
20 - Against Sagicor, Bridgetown, 2014
12 - Against Ireland A, Dublin, 2018
Akbar Ali (Bangladesh A Captain): "Very good to have some points in the first game of the tournament. We have all watched what he did, and at some point, we were talking that this might be the fastest ton by a Bangladeshi player. Hats off to him. Once we got a good start, we decided to finish it early, keeping in mind the net run rate."
Yasim Murtaza (Hong Kong Captain): "We thought the score was enough, but credit goes to Bangladesh A batters. This surface was too good to bat on. It was a belter to bat on. We will look to make a comeback tomorrow (day after tomorrow vs SL-A)."
Habibur Rahman Sohan (POTM): "Just played in line of the ball. Didn't do the overthinking. Just played one ball at a time and everything fell in place. I hope to continue my good form in this tournament."
Player of the Match: Habibur Rahman Sohan
Time for the post-match presentation!
Fastest centuries for Bangladesh in T20s:
35 balls - Habibur Rahman Sohan (BAN-A) vs Hong Kong, Doha, 2025, Today*
42 balls - Parvez Hossain Emon (Fortune Barishal) vs Minister Rajshahi, Dhaka, 2020
2:42 PM IST, 12:12 PM Local Time: End of the match. Bangladesh A skipper Akbar Ali has finished the chase by hitting five sixes in a row. Bangladesh A have won the game by eight wickets with nine overs to spare. Habibur Rahman Sohan has played a memorable innings. He reached his ton in just 34 balls. Bangladesh A register a win in their first game of the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament.
Electing to bowl first, Bangladesh A dominated the Hong Kong batters in the powerplay and didn't allow them to score freely. Hong Kong scored at less than 7 runs an over in the powerplay. However, Babar Hayat and skipper Yasim Murtaza took the responsibility and started scoring at a faster run-rate. Hayat made 63 off 49 balls while Murtaza scored 40 off 22 balls. Kinchit Shah played an excellent late cameo of 20 off just 4 balls. All these efforts helped Hong Kong post a total of 167/8 in 20 overs. Bangladesh A bowlers SM Meherob and Ripon Mondol picked up two wickets each.
In reply, Bangladesh A were off to a flier right from ball one, thanks to Sohan. Over 100 runs were scored in the powerplay as every Hong Kong bowler got punished on the flat wicket of Doha. The opening stand of Sohan and Jishan Alam was of 111 runs.
Sohan played a monstrous knock and reached his ton in just 34 balls. He hit a total of 18 boundaries, including 10 sixes. Skipper Akbar Ali finished the match by hitting five sixes in a row off Kinchit Shah's over. Ali stayed unbeaten at 41 (13) while Sohan remained not out at 100 (35). Every Hong Kong bowler went for at least 11 runs an over. One wicket each was taken by Ehsan Khan and Aizaz Khan.
With winning this game with nine overs still left in the match, Bangladesh A have got a head start in terms of the net run-rate.