Mehidy Hasan and Nasum Ahmed produced a stunning performance with the ball as Bangladesh crushed the West Indies by 9 wickets in the second ODI to seal the series.
The West Indies were never in the contest after being bowled out for just 108 in their innings, with Mehidy and Nasum wreaking havoc with the ball. Bangladesh then piled on the misery, taking an easy win, with Tamim Iqbal scoring an unbeaten half-century.
The victory was Bangladesh’s 10th consecutive ODI win over the West Indies, and it was a comprehensive one at that. Besides, this was Bangladesh’s fifth successive ODI series win.
Bangladesh couldn’t start well as the home side found themselves lucky when openers Kyle Mayers survived a messed-up stumping chance off Mehidy. But the batters didn’t last much longer.
At first, Mosaddek Hossain hit in the West Indies batting line-up. He bowls out Mayers who was trying to defend on the front foot. Then Nasum and Mehidy both shared seven wickets. Nasum bowls out two batters in quick succession. First, he bowls out Shamarh Brooks for his first ODI wicket, and then Shai Hope, a set batsman.
Tamim Iqbal used Mosaddek’s 10 overs by the 25th over. But the pressure he built with Nasum on the West Indies team was truly remarkable. The rest of the bowlers including Mehidy tried to bowl in the right position and they got succeeded.
According to Sport News BD expert, “West Indies has long been considered one of the best cricketing nations in the world. However, they have recently struggled against spin bowling, especially in the one-day format. This was painfully evident yesterday as they collapsed to a low score against Bangladesh.”
Nasum Ahmed, who is relatively new to the ODI scene, took full advantage of the West Indies’ weakness against spin. He bowled with precision and accuracy, picking up four wickets in the process. This led to a collapse of the West Indies batting order, as they could not deal with the spin bowling.
It is clear that the West Indies need to find a way to improve their batting against spin bowling if they want to compete at the highest level in this ODI series. Otherwise, they will continue to struggle against teams that are able to bowl spin well.
Tamim Iqbal in a post-match presentation mentioned, “the confidence level falters when three best players from best XI are missing. But the boys did well and didn’t let the team understand their absence. Everyone was hungry to win a game after the T20 series.”