LAHORE - Mohammad Ashraful steered Bangladesh to a comfortable win of 96 runs with a captain's knock against Unoited Arab Emirates here in the Group A opening match of the Asia Cup here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday. Banking on the brilliant century by Ashraful and equally magnificent 83 by Raqibul Hasan, Bangladesh gathered huge total of 300 for eight and later reduced hapless UAE for 204 runs in 45.4 overs. Bangladesh bowlers' Abdul Razazq, Alok Kapali and Muhhamad Allah got two wickets each. Captain Muhammad Ashraful was judged Electing to bat, Bangladesh captain Ashraful hit a sparkling 109 off 126 balls after a first over loss of Nazimuddin. Coming at one down Ashraful and opener Tamim Iqbal added 94 runs for the second wicket Tamim added 41 before getting run out but Bangladesh captain maintained the runs from the other end bringing in 141 runs for the third wicket with Raqibul Hasan, who hammered 83 off just 63 balls, before UAE pulled them back with four quick wickets. Ashraful smashed eight boundaries to overcome a long slump in form. His first one-day hundred came in Bangladesh's famous win over world champions Australia at Cardiff in 2005. Hasan hit nine boundaries during his 63-ball knock. Bangladesh, who had been on the receiving end in the last seven one-day matches including heavy defeats in the Kitply Cup tri-series at home, didn't get off to the best of starts as opener Nazimuddin fell in the first over after Ashraful elected to bat. However, Ashraful, along with the rest of the top order, got Bangladesh back with entertaining knocks coupled with slipshod fielding by the UAE fielders. UAE last played official international cricket in the 2004 Asia Cup. And when the time of chase came for UAE it did not match the abilities of Bangladesh, which has been taken as the minnows of the game in the test arena. But in this match they were the giants of cricket that reveals the gap the countries like UAE have to cover. UAE captain Saqib Ali used as many as eight bowlers in an effort to dislodge the Ashraful-Hasan stand. Paceman Zahid Shah was the pick of the UAE bowlers with 3-49. UAE did not give any problem to the Bangladesh attack as their attack did not were trouble the tigers batting. Their  opener Arshad Ali (41) and Multan-born Khurrum Ali (78) offered some resistance before the Bangladesh bowlers who unleashed tight line and length and started to take wicket at regular intervals. Khurrum in his innings got the ball across the boundaries eight times for his maiden fifty in his third one-day international. SCOREBOARD BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal run out     40 Nazimuddin c Arshad b Shah     2 Mohammad Ashraful run out     109 Raqibul Hasan c Amjad b Shah     83 Alok Kapali c and b Khurrum     1 Mashrafe Mortaza c Khurrum b Shah     3 Mahmudullah Riyad not out     8 Mushfiqur Rahim st Amjad b Khurrum     16 Dolar Mahmud run out     20 EXTRAS: (lb2, w16)     18 TOTAL: (for eight wkts)     300 Did not bat: Abdur Razzak, Shahdat Hossain Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Nazimuddin), 2-107 (Iqbal), 3-248 (Hasan), 4-250 (Ashraful), 5-252 (Kapali), 6-257 (Mortaza), 7-278 (Rahim), 8-300 (Mahmud) BOWLING: Shah     10-0-49-3 (8w) Alhashmi     5-1-21-0 (5w) Javed     2-0-24-0 Tauqir     3-0-6-0 Silva     7-0-33-0 Saqib     3-0-13-0 (1w) Khurrum     10-0-78-2 (2w) Arshad     10-0-74-0. Overs:     50 UAE: Amjad Javed c Iqbal b Mortaza     10 Arshad Ali c Hasan b Mahmudullah     41 Indika Batuwitarachchi lbw b Hossain     0 Amjad Ali c Kapali b Razzak     19 Saqib Ali c Hossain b Mahmudullah     10 Khurrum Khan c Hasan b Razzak     78 Vikrant Shetty b Razzak     7 Mohammad Tauqir c Rahim b Mahmud     18 Shadeep Silva c and b Kapali     7 Zahid Shah not out     5 Fahad Alhashmi b Kapali     0 EXTRAS: (lb1, w8)     9 TOTAL:     204 Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Javed), 2-16 (Batuwitarachchi), 3-48 (Amjad), 4-70 (Saqib), 5-117 (Arshad), 6-134 (Shetty), 7-181 (Tauqir), 8-198 (Silva), 9-198 (Khurrum) BOWLING: Mortaza     7-1-47-1 (1w) Hossain     4.5-0-24-1 (3w) Razzak     10-2-20-3 Mahmud     6.1-0-47-1 (2w) Mahmudullah     10-0-38-2 (1w) Kapali     7.4-0-27-2 Overs:     45.4 Toss: Bangladesh Result: Bangladesh won by 96 runs Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS), Ian Gould (ENG) TV umpire: Zameer Haider (PAK) Match referee: Mike Procter (RSA).