Dhaka, Dec 22 (Just News) : After squaring the series, motivated Bangladesh embarks on a new mission to wrap up the series as they face visiting West Indies in the series deciding third and final T20I scheduled to be held today (Saturday) at Sher-e-Bangla Naional Cricket Stadium at Mirpur.
The match kicks off at 5:00pm.
It was a magnificent performance by the Tigers in all three departments as they bounced back to level the series in style with a 36-run victory in the high scoring encounter after losing the first match in Sylhet.
Tigers’ skipper Shakib Al Hasan once again ushers hope for Bangladesh with his impressive all-round performance to rescue Bangladesh in their must win match.
Sent in to bat first, Bangladesh posted 211 for four off their 20 overs – the highest-ever T20 total on home soil – and West Indies folded for 175, with four balls remaining, to leave the three-match series tied at 1-1.
The hosts grabbed the early advantage relying on Liton Das, who blasted 60 from 34 balls, posting 42 for the first wicket with Tamim Iqbal (15) and a further 68 for the second with Soumya Sarkar (32).
When three wickets fell for 10 runs in the space of 12 balls, Mahmudullah (43 not out) and captain Shakib-al-Hasan (42 not out) together built an unbroken 91-run, fifth-wicket stand to give the innings a rousing finish.
Shakib was also superb with the ball as he bagged his career best figure of 5 for 21. Pacer Mustafizur Rahman supported him with 2 for 50.
The Tigers fans is again expecting the same performance from Shakib in today’s series deciding match.
West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite hopes that his side could be at their best for today’s decider after conceding that they were not up to scratch yesterday’s 36-run defeat.
West Indies were at fault in the field, missing a couple of chances in an undisciplined effort that fell short of their quality performance in the opening T20 International earlier this week.
The Caribbean skipper put the performance down to an ‘off night’, however, promising that West Indies would lift their standard for the all-important match at the same venue.
‘We didn’t have our best day in the field, but that doesn’t mean we are a bad fielding team,’ he stressed.
He said: ‘We’re still a good fielding team as we were in the first game.
That display was excellent. We just had an off night tonight. We should tryto win the series by 2-1.’
Squad: Bangladesh – Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Hider and Ariful Haque.
West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Kesrick Williams, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Shai Hope, Sherfane Rutherford, Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas.
(JustNews/mj/1140hr.)
