Bangladesh need 143 runs to claim their first win in the Super 12 round against the defending champions West Indies.
Bangladesh won the toss once again but elected to bowl first this time. The Tigers had a couple of changes in the starting XI.
They had to bring in Soumya Sarkar as the wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan missed out due to an injury. Taskin Ahmed replacing Nasum Ahmed was the second change in the lineup.
Liton Das shouldered the responsibility of keeping the wickets in this match. West Indies too had two replacements in their XI - Lendl Simmons making space for Roston Chase and Hayden Walsh Jr. making space for Jason Holder.
Just like their previous couple of games, West Indies were forced into batting first and they found doing so difficult right from the get-go.
Both the openers Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle fell cheaply within the powerplay as the Carribeans found themselves at 29/2 at the end of the sixth over. Mustafizur Rahman and Mahedi Hasan claimed the respective wickets.
In the very first over after the powerplay, Shimron Hetmyer departed as Mahedi claimed his second scalp this afternoon. Halfway through, West Indies were struggling at 48/3.
Bangladesh still were in some sort of discomfort as Shakib was not looking 100 per cent fit while bowling his first over of the match.
In the thirteenth over, everything just suddenly fell apart for the Carribeans. After the third delivery of that over, Kieron Pollard decided to leave the field as retired hurt.
In the very next delivery, Chase struck one straight down the ground only to have the ball ricochet off the bowler onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end, which caused the wicket of Andre Russell for a diamond duck - only the ninth instance in the history of T20 World Cups.
West Indies finished this nightmare of an over at 64/4.
Bangladesh had two opportunities to get the Windies at their knees in the following over. Shakib had the well-set Chase miscue one to deep mid-wicket only to have Mahedi spill the catch. This was Chase’s second life and Mahedi’s second drop in this innings.
A couple of balls later, Shakib saw Nicholas Pooran coming down the pitch and therefore fired in down the leg side, creating a stumping opportunity for the keeper. Liton, behind the stumps, failed to grab it cleanly and gifted Pooran a life.
Those two missed chances hurt Bangladesh big as the fifteenth and sixteenth over cost Mustafiz and Shakib 14 and 15 runs respectively.
After a tight over from Shariful thereafter, Mahedi received some further treatment from Pooran as the over yielded 16 runs with the partnership reaching the 50-run mark in just 29 balls, thanks to the Bangladeshi fielders.
At the penultimate over, Shoriful Islam bowled a cracker of an over to get the Tigers back into the game. He removed both the set-batters - Chase (39 off 46) and Pooran (40 off 22) in the first two deliveries and conceded only four runs in that over.
Mustafizur Rahman, on whom Bangladesh do rest their trust, made an absolute meal of that trust in the final over. Although started brilliant dismissing Dwayne Bravo in the very first ball, the Fizz managed to give away 19 runs, including three sixes -- two off Holder and one off Pollard -- who returned to the crease after the dismissal of Bravo.
Shoriful undoubtedly was the best bowler on the show with his spell of 2/20 in four overs, including that amazing penultimate over. Bangladesh would also feel lucky that not a full-fit Shakib managed to get through his four overs, conceding 28 runs, which could have been far worse if some part-timer had to cover it off.
Nicholas Pooran with his cameo and Roston Chase with his anchoring innings were the pick for the Windies. However, Bangladesh should feel disappointed as they had opportunities to get rid of both of them at the initial phase of their respective innings.
