5 days ago
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KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC):
Bangladesh’s Mahedi Hasan starred with both bat and ball, and the visitors ended their 15-year wait for a T20I win against West Indies in the Caribbean by registering an exciting seven-run victory in the opening T20I here at Arnos Vale Sunday.
Player of the Match Mahedi Hasan hit an unbeaten 26, which helped to pilot Bangladesh to 147 for six in their 20 overs after they were sent in to bat by the West Indies.
He then returned to grab 4-13, the best bowling figures by a visiting spinner against West Indies in T20Is, as the home side fell just short, being dismissed for 140 in 19.5 overs despite a fighting half-century from skipper Rovman Powell as Bangladesh took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
West Indies got off to a good start when left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein bowled Tanzid Hasan and then had the struggling Litton Das caught and bowled off successive deliveries to leave the score 15 for two.
Afif Hossain’s reverse sweep then ended up in the hands of Hosein at short third man off the bowling of Chase to make it 30 for three.
Jaker Ali joined Soumya Sarkar, and the two added 57, the highest partnership of the innings, to stem the fall of wickets and resuscitate the innings.
However, after scoring a run-a-ball 27, Ali picked out Powell at the long on boundary, with the West Indies captain showing good awareness to flick the ball in the air as he was going over the boundary ropes before returning to take the catch.
Sarkar hit the top score of 43 from 32 balls but was bowled by a slower delivery from Obed McCoy to put West Indies in the ascendancy at 96 for five after 15 overs.
It took a superb effort from Mahedi Hasan and Shamim Hossain to get Bangladesh up to their eventual total, with the pair smashing 49 runs in under five overs to give their side a blazing finish to the innings.
Shamim blasted three sixes and one four in scoring 27 off just 13 balls, while Mahedi Hasan finished unbeaten on 26 from 24 balls.
Hosein ended with 2-14 from his four overs, and McCoy took 2-30.
Playing their first international match in St Vincent in 10 years, the West Indies got off to the worst possible start when Taskin Ahmed dismissed Brandon King with his first ball of the second over, and offspinner Mahedi Hasan had the dangerous Nicholas Pooran stumped as the home side slumped to two for two.
Things got worse for the Windies when Mahedi Hasan accounted for the wickets of Johnson Charles for 20, Andre Fletcher for a duck, and Roston Chase for seven to have them stuttering on 38 for five in the seventh over.
And when Gudakesh Motie was caught behind off the bowling of Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rishad Hossain dismissed Akeal Hosein for two, the match seemed all but over at 61 for seven.
But Powell found a partner in Romario Shepherd, and they combined in a 67-run partnership to ensure a thrilling end to the contest.
They took 15 runs off Rishad Hossain in the 14th over, and in the next over, bowled by Taskin Ahmed, Powell bludgeoned him for three sixes in an over that went for 23 runs.
Powell eventually brought up his ninth T20 half-century off just 28 balls by edging Sakib over the wicketkeeper and to the boundary in the ensuing over.
The West Indies would have been favoured to win the match with 20 runs required off 18 balls with Powell and Shepherd on the rampage, but the former was dismissed by Ahmed for 22, caught at deep midwicket with the first ball of the 18th over.
With 10 needed off the final over bowled by Mahmud, Powell could only get a thick outside edge off the third ball as he looked to smash him through the offside and was caught behind for 60 from 35 balls, inclusive of five boundaries and four sixes.
Mahmud then delivered the final rites by bowling Joseph off the penultimate ball of the match to spark wild celebrations among the Bangladesh camp.
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