Smith, Badree sparkle as WI canter home

Bangladesh stumble to 73-run defeat

After an inexplicable batting show against India, West Indies produced a much-improved performance to post their first win in Group 2 of the World T20 here on Tuesday.

Put into bat first, West Indies, despite Chris Gayle’s uncharacteristically slow innings, posted a competitive 171 for seven. Bangladesh didn’t measure up to the task, caving in for a sorry 98 all out in 19.1 overs, to suffer a massive 73-run loss. The big win helped West Indies jump to second place ahead of Pakistan, who too have two points after two matches, due to better net run-rate. India occupy the top position with four points.  
 
Leg-spinner Samuel Badree was the star performer for the defending champions with figures of 4/15 in his four overs. Before Badree wrecked Bangladesh’s chase, paceman Krishmar Santokie had pegged the innings back with two wickets in as many balls in the fourth over. Bangladesh could never recover from those blows.

Bangladesh’s decision to bowl first in drier conditions, before the dew made its appearance, was a sound one but their bowlers were too wayward to back their skipper’s move. Right from the first ball, which Mashrafe Mortaza, sent down the leg for a wide-four, the home bowlers kept repeating such mistakes. Al-Amin Hossain was the lone bright spot for Bangladesh on a night of disappointment. The right-arm pacer, nippy and hard to hit, returned with figures of 3/21 from his four overs.

They were fortunate that Gayle, for the second successive innings, remained off-colour. His run-a-ball painstaking 48 (3x4, 2x6) was easily overshadowed by his opening partner Dwayne Smith, who cracked a 43-ball 72 aided by 10 fours and three mighty heaves over the rope. At one stage, Gayle’s strike-rate hovered under 70 that he improved with a four and six off Shakib Al Hasan.

Smith, though, was back in his elements after looking out of sorts against India on Sunday. The right-hander effortlessly cleared the boundary and was severe against an erratic Sohag Gazi. The off-spinner, one of the four replacements from their match against Hong Kong, fed Smith’s strengths and was sent all over the park stunning the home fans into pin-drop silence. The catching under lights continued to be an issue as at least half a dozen of them were spilled between the two sides.

It was a tough task for Bangladesh to chase but with the likes of skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, Anamul Haque, Shakib and Tamim Iqbal in their ranks, the target wasn’t beyond realms of possibility. The capacity crowd, however, was in for a big let-down as the home team slipped to 16 for three with Santokie dealing a double blow with the first two balls of his second over. Anamul was stumped brilliantly by Denesh Ramdin while an incoming delivery saw Shakib’s stumps rearranged off the first ball he faced. Prior to these twin strikes, Tamim had failed to clear Dwayne Bravo at mid-off.             
Muminul Haque and Rahim resisted further damage but their innings was going nowhere with the asking rate climbing up with every dot ball. Mominul eventually fell in his effort to up the scoring rate, ending a 35-run association. His dismissal trigged another collapse as Bangladesh lost four wickets in the space of eight runs to be reduced to 59 for seven. It was all over for hosts by this stage and more than half of the crowd had left the stadium before the last ball was bowled for the day. It wasn’t a result they were hoping for on the eve of their 43rd Independence Day.

WEST INDIES
Smith c A Hossain b M’dullah    72
Gayle c Iqbal b Z Rahman    48
Simmons st Rahim b Shakib    0
Samuels c Gazi b A Hossain    18
Sammy (not out)    14
Russell c Shakib b A Hossain    0
Bravo c Tamim b A Hossain    0
Ramdin (run out)    0
Extras (B-10, LB-1, W-7, NB-1)    19
Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs)    171
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-98, 3-151, 4-167, 5-167, 6-168, 7-171.
Bowling: Mortaza 4-0-25-0 (w-6), A Hossain 4-0-21-3, Gazi 4-0-38-0, S Rahman 1-0-12-0, Mahmudullah 3-0-27-1, Shakib 3-0-21-1 (w-1), Z Rahman 1-0-16-1 (nb-1).
BANGLADESH
Tamim b Badree    5
A Haque st Ramdin b Santokie    10
M Haque c Santokie b Narine    16
Shakib b Santokie    0
Rahim c Bravo b Badree    22
S Rahman c Sammy b Badree    1
M’dullah c Simmons b Badree    1
Z Rahman b Russell    9
Gazi b Russell    11
Mortaza c Bravo b Santokie    19
A Hossain (not out)    0
Extras (LB-1, W-3)    4
Total (all out, 19.1 overs)    98
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-16, 3-16, 4-51, 5-57, 6-58, 7-59, 8-73, 9-97.
Bowling: Badree 4-0-15-4, Santokie 4-0-17-3 (w-2), Samuels 1-0-9-0, Sammy 1-0-6-0, Narine 4-0-17-1, Bravo 3-0-23-0 (w-1), Russell 2.1-0-10-2.