West Indies clinch T20I series

Sports Desk: West Indies have finally managed to win a trophy at the end of their three-month long sub-continental tour beating Bangladesh by a big margin of 50 runs in the 3rd T20I at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Bangladesh won the Test and ODI series, but they failed to repeat the same act in the three-match T20I series. In the series decider, Bangladeshi batsmen were clueless to make a strong reply to 190 of West Indies.

Evin Lewis hit 89 of 39 balls which proved to be the series-deciding performance. Keemo Paul, the spearhead of West Indies, took five wickets for the first time in T20Is to tumble the Tigers.

Evin Lewis was man of the match while Shakib Al Hasan man of the series.

Bangladesh started replying in pursuit of 191 losing Tamim Iqbal in a ridiculous manner. Tamim fell short while completing three runs with Liton Das. That run-out might have set an unexpected fate for the hosts who eventually lost the match and series as well.

In the fourth over of Bangladesh’s innings, Tanvir Ahmed, a Bangladeshi umpire, made a disgraceful error calling a no-ball off Oshane Thomas delivery which seemed a fair one in TV replay.

Tanvir called the no-ball assuming an over-stepped delivery from Oshane, but TV replay showed it was clearly a fair delivery. Liton Das went to drive through long-off but he got caught at mid-off. The West Indies players saw the replay on the giant screen which is installed in the gallery, and Carlos Brathwaite, the captain, called for a review but the umpire denied him since there is no review to check no-balls.

It created a 10-minute delay in the match. Two captains, third umpire Sharfuddoula along with match referee Jeff Crowe had a long discussion at the boundary and finally, the no-ball decision stayed, and West Indies agreed to continue playing. In the next delivery which was a free-hit, Soumya Sarkar hit a wonderful six before losing two wickets in consecutive deliveries off Fabian Allen’s next over.

Soumya Sarkar mistimed Fabian to a fuller delivery outside off, Sheldon Cottrell took an easy catch to remove Soumya. In the very next delivery, Shakib Al Hasan went for a drive through on but failed to make it correctly. He returned to the dressing room adding nothing to the board.

Bangladesh’s drubbing got worst in the next three overs when they lost Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad in a gap of one over. Mushfiqur managed one only while Mahmudllah fell for 11.

The hosts lost three more wickets in the next three overs. Keemo Paul took two wickets in consecutive balls during his third over. He trapped Liton Das and Ariful Haque after bagging Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad.

At the end of 10th over, Bangladesh were struggling at 89 for seven wickets. They lost the eighth wicket adding seven more runs when Keemo Paul dismissed Mohammad Saifuddin to complete his first five-for in T20Is.

Eventually, Bangladesh were dismissed for 140 in 17 overs. Liton scored 43 but that wasn't enough for the Tigers to avoid an embarrassing defeat.

Earlier in the first innings, West Indies posted 190/10 in 19.2 overs. Evin Lewis struck 89 off 36 balls with six fours and eight sixes to his credit. Shakib, Mustafizur and Mahmudullah took three wickets each for the Tigers.

risingbd/Dhaka/December 22, 2018/AKA