West Indies Beat Bangladesh by a Big Margin on Mirpur’s Spin-Friendly Pitch

Sports Desk

West Indies defeated Bangladesh by a big margin of 8 wickets on a tough spin track in Mirpur, riding on Brendan King’s unbeaten 81 and Roston Chase’s five-wicket haul. Despite several interruptions due to poor light, rain and lightning, King and John Campbell’s 112-run opening stand, which was close to a run-a-ball, gave West Indies an easy victory in pursuit of the target of 170.

King played a brilliant innings of 81 runs off 115 balls with the help of 10 fours and 1 six, most of which came on the leg side. Campbell (49) and Tajnarayan Chandrapaul (1) were dismissed quickly for 120 runs, but by then the Caribbeans had taken control of the match. King then effortlessly cruised through the rest of the third session with Kavem Hodge. Hodge remained unbeaten on 31 runs with 4 fours and 1 six.

Earlier in the day, just before the tea break, West Indies were allowed to bat for just one over, with Campbell saving three consecutive lbw appeals from Mehedi Hasan Miraj. After the break, Campbell and King began attacking Naeem Hasan and Shariful Islam. King was caught at slip by Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who had to leave the field with a finger injury. King got his life back on the next ball, hitting a square-cut boundary and reaching his fifth fifty of his Test career.

Campbell was bowled by Shariful for 49 and Chandrapaul caught him at fine leg off Hasan Mahmud. Coming close to victory, King was caught again by Ibadat Hossain while he was batting on 71. Finally, King hit Taijul Islam for a four through mid-off to ensure the visitors’ victory.

Bangladesh started the day at 79 for 6 in their second innings. Nayeem Hasan fought back from the bottom to bring up his maiden Test fifty. Roston Chase, however, reached the milestone of 100 Test wickets with 5 for 36. At the other end, left-arm spinner Jomel Warrickan took 4 for 63. Warrickan, who also took 5 wickets in the first innings, was adjudged the man of the match.

Warrickan dismissed Zaker Ali (22) at slips in the first over of the morning. He then caught Hasan Mahmud (8) LBW. Taijul Islam, who came out at number 9, opened the account with a four but was caught LBW by Chase. Naeem, who was kept at one end, reached fifty but was dismissed by Chase as the last batter, and Bangladesh’s second innings was bowled out for 142 runs.
Chasing the target of 170 runs set by Bangladesh, the visiting West Indies took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.
Summary Scorecard
* Bangladesh: 272 (Islam 105; Warrickan 5/53) and 142 (Naeem 52; Chase 5/36, Warrickan 4/63)
* West Indies: 245 (Chandrapaul 56; Hasan 4/33) and 170/2 (King 81*, Campbell 49; Shariful 1/36)
* Result: West Indies won by 8 wickets.
* Man of the Match: Jomel Warrickan.