Bangladesh v West Indies
World T20, Group 2, Mirpur
West Indies 171 for 7 (Smith 72, Al-Amin 3-21) beat Bangladesh 98 (Badree 4-15, Santokie 3-17) by 73 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West
Indies had batted poorly against India in a seven-wicket defeat on
Sunday. Their batsmen didn't look entirely convincing against Bangladesh
either, but they scored 171, thanks to Dwayne Smith's 43-ball 72 and
some amateurish work in the field.
The target
proved well beyond the reach of the hosts, who were bowled out for 98.
Dew, which had been a big factor in Mushfiqur Rahim sending West Indies
in at the toss, barely played a role as Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine and
Krishmar Santokie - a left-arm seamer by definition but a quickish
left-arm spinner in reality - had no difficulty in gripping the ball in
achieving figures of 12-0-49-8 between them.
Badree
and Santokie sent back three of Bangladesh's most dangerous batsmen
within first four overs. Tamim Iqbal went first, driving Badree uppishly
to a diving Dwayne Bravo at mid-off. Bravo would later throw an even
harsher light on the gulf between the two fielding sides by hurling
himself to his right at point to grab a low one-handed catch and dismiss
Mushfiqur.
Before that, though, Santokie struck
twice in two balls with his slower offcutters. First, he spun it past
the groping outside edge of the right-handed Anamul Haque for Denesh
Ramdin to effect a brilliant stumping, then spun his next ball through
the gate of the left-handed Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh were 16 for 3 in
3.2 overs and the match, as a contest, was over.
Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur fought on for the next six overs, but the required rate was always running 
away
from Bangladesh. Once the two were dismissed, Badree - who finished
with four wickets - and the rest of West Indies' attack had no trouble
running through the rest. In the end, the margin of victory reflected
Bangladesh's inadequacies rather than anything spectacular from West
Indies.
away
from Bangladesh. Once the two were dismissed, Badree - who finished
with four wickets - and the rest of West Indies' attack had no trouble
running through the rest. In the end, the margin of victory reflected
Bangladesh's inadequacies rather than anything spectacular from West
Indies.
Having been sent in, West Indies, for
most part, had struggled to put Bangladesh's bowlers away on a slow
pitch. Smith, who had scratched his way to 11 off 29 balls against
India, was in much better touch though, and provided West Indies impetus
that they never lost despite their two best batsmen - Gayle and Marlon
Samuels - facing 70 balls between them for 66.
Smith
profited from some poor bowling, particularly from Sohag Gazi. Smith
greeted the offspinner by sweeping him for two fours off his first two
balls, both of which were directed towards leg stump, a dodgy idea with
fine leg in the circle.
In the 10th over, Smith
struck him for four successive fours. He manufactured the first - a
reverse-sweep off a decent ball, but the next three came from ordinary
deliveries that would have disappeared in any format of the game. The
last of these, a flat-batted sweep, took Smith to 50. The landmark had
come up in 34 balls.
Despite this, West Indies'
run rate, at the end of the 10th over, was still under eight an over. At
the other end, Gayle was playing a bizarre innings. It wasn't a
surprise that he was slow off the blocks - he usually is before picking
up the rate later. That simply didn't happen today. Part of this had to
do with Gayle struggling to time the ball on a slow pitch, and part of
it had to do with intent - unless the ball was in his hitting zone, he
simply didn't go after it. He was slow between the wickets too, and
appeared in some discomfort, suggesting he might not have been fully
fit.
After Smith's dismissal in the 12th over,
Mushfiqur brought on Shakib Al Hasan for the first time, and the
left-arm spinner struck first ball getting Lendl Simmons stumped down
the leg side as he went off on a strange wander out of the crease.
In
came Samuels, who added 53 in 37 balls with Gayle even though neither
batsman looked particularly threatening, as Bangladesh's fielding
disintegrated despite two blinders from Tamim. Gayle went from 26 from
38 - at that point the second-slowest score of 25 or more in the history
of international T20 - to 30 from 39 - the 14th slowest - courtesy
Anamul's slippery fingers at long-on. In the next over, the 17th,
Mushfiqur let successive deliveries from Shakib scoot between his legs
for four byes. In the last two overs, Bangladesh also dropped three
catches - Mahmudullah's two missed chances at long-off adding eight runs
to Darren Sammy's score.
Al-Amin Hossain bowled
a tight last over, picking up three wickets, but would have wished the
spell had been part of a better team performance.
