Match Details
Arya- Earlier in the day, it was West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran who won the toss and opted to bat. It was Kyle Mayers who got Windies off to a flyer. He scored 17 of just 9 deliveries to set the tone for the fireworks later on in the innings. Mayers was dismissed by Mahedi Hasan as he darted one on a length and Mayers missed the attempted slog-sweep completely only to see his stumps get clattered.
Brandon King started off brilliantly but lost another partner when Shamrah Brooks played a poor shot and was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan. It was a good start for the Bangladesh bowlers as they didn’t allow the Windies to go berserk in the powerplay. King was joined by skipper Nicholas Pooran who steadied the ship while King kept playing his strokes.
It was sensible batting from the duo as they got the Windies back into the game from a tricky situation. King timed the ball brilliantly and completed a well-deserved half-century. Pooran was dismissed after making 34 of 30 deliveries, an innings which included 3 fours and a six. He couldn’t quite resist the temptation of a reverse sweep and was out LBW of Mosaddek Hossain.
West Indies was going at a good rate but needed some big overs to swing the moment, totally in their favour. Rovman Powell came out all guns blazing and muscled his way to a monumental knock of 61 of just 28 deliveries which were laced with a couple of fours and as many as 6 sixes. He smashed Shakib Al Hasan for three sixes and a four in one over and followed it up with back-to-back sixes of Taskin Ahmed.
It was his colossal hits which laid the foundation for a score in excess of the 200 mark. However, the last three overs were quite good for Bangladesh. Shoriful bowled a great 18th over and was followed up by a good over from Mustafizur Rahman. However, Shoriful lost his way in the final over as Rovman Powell got under him and took West Indies to a commendable score of 193/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
Arya- Bangladesh needed to get off to a blistering start to harbour hopes of chasing the target down. However, it was exactly the opposite of what happened on the field. Obed McCoy bagged two back-to-back wickets in his first over, the 2nd of the innings. While Liton Das flicked a fuller-length off-pace delivery straight down the throat of the deep backward square leg fielder, Anamul Haque chopped one length delivery outside off straight onto his stumps.
Mahmudullah started off with a dismissive six over deep square leg and followed it up with a boundary. However, the ultra-aggressive approach didn’t work for long as he was holed out at mid-off. He came charging down the track only to smash that straight to Obed McCoy. Bangladesh was under a whole heap of pressure, with the score reading 23/3.
From there on it was a good rearguard action from Shakib Al Hasan and Afif Hossain which slowly got Bangladesh back into the run-chase. However, the target was still a long way and both of them needed to bat sensibly without conceding too many dot deliveries. Shakib rotated the strike along very well while Afif took his chances a bit. However, just when the partnership was giving Bangladesh a glimmer of hope, Afif perished at the hands of Romario Shepherd.
The run-chase started fizzing off as Shakib wasn't able to play the big shots with wickets falling consistently at the other end. Nurul Hasan couldn't quite get the big shots away either and his 13 balls 7 made sure that Bangladesh had no chance in the match left whatsoever. With the scoreboard pressure out of the equation, Shakib started to play some shots but by then the match was done and dusted.
Shakib smashed three big sixes during the last few overs as the Windies bowlers erred in length. However, it was only after they had ensured, that there was no chance of losing the game. Eventually, the former Bangladesh skipper remained unbeaten on 68 of 52 deliveries. Obed McCoy and Romario Shepherd was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts bagging a couple each.