Hong Kong are one of some pundits pick for a surprise spot in Bangladesh, and they showed why today with a convincing win over Italy in Abu Dhabi today.

Hong Kong won the toss and chose to let Italy, missing an injured Gareth Berg, bat first. The Italians struggled against a varied Hong Kong bowling attack, and they lost wickets regularly. The star of the show though was Haseeb Amjad, making his official debut after previously playing in the two warm-up games and in the Hong Kong Sixes.

The former Pakistan Under-19 International was in fine form, taking five wickets for just 12 runs in his four overs as Italy were restricted to 110-8 from their 20 overs Carl Sandri top scored for them with 41, but only two other batsman could make double figures.

Hong Kong took their time chasing the Italian total, but they were never in trouble. Waqas Barkat scored an unbeaten 51 as they secured a seven wicket win with 8 balls to spare.

Hong Kong will play Uganda tomorrow, whilst Italy will play the USA.