Taijul Islam and Litton Das produced valuable contributions to drive Bangladesh to a four-wicket win in the third match of the ODI series versus the Windies.
For the first time in 13 years, Bangladesh completed a clean sweep against WI in their own backyard, repeating the heroics of their iconic 2009 tour. Skipper Tamim Iqbal, who took over the leadership responsibilities under dire circumstances, did not enjoy any success in the Tests and T20Is but led by example in the ODIs.
During the third and final game of the series in Guyana, the Asian unit decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Taijul Islam and Mustafizur Rahman produced three very early breakthroughs, sending back Brandon King, Shai Hope and Shamarh Brooks inside the opening six overs. West Indies were reduced to 16/3 and required something big from Nicholas Pooran.
The skipper established a 67-run partnership in the company of Keace Carty (33 off 66 balls), but once this partnership was broken by Nasum Ahmed, the hosts never gathered themselves to put together another good stand. Pooran completed his half-century and made 73 off 109 deliveries, which included four fours and two sixes.
Romario Shepherd (19 off 22) and Rovman Powell (18 off 29) helped the team go past 150, and they were eventually bundled out for 178 runs. Taijul Islam was the star of the show, who returned with a brilliant five-fer (5-28 in 10 overs), whilst Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur picked up two wickets each.
Najmul Shanto was dismissed early in the run-chase for Bangladesh, but Iqbal and Das kept the ship sailing with a 50-run partnership. Both batters kept ticking the scorecard well whilst erring on the side of caution. Das completed his fifty, but both batters were dismissed in quick succession to raise a glimmer of hope for the Caribbean side.
Gudakesh Motie dismissed both the set batters and sent Afifi Hossain back for a duck. Nurul Hasan, however, stitched a couple of vital partnerships alongside Mosaddek Hossain (14 off 25) and Mehidy Hasan (16 off 35) to see through the run chase with nine balls to spare. Nurul remained unbeaten on 32 off 38 balls as Bangladesh completed only their third-ever clean sweep against WI in this format.
Brief scores
West Indies 178 all out in 48.4 overs (Pooran 73, Carty 33; Islam 5/28) beat Bangladesh 179/6 in 48.3 overs (Das 50, Iqbal 34, Nurul 32*; Motie 4/23) by 4 wickets
