In arguably one of the biggest upsets of this tournament, Bangladesh pulled off the second highest run chase ever of the World Cup to thrash the once mighty West Indies by seven wickets on a batting friendly pitch of Taunton.
Inviting West Indies to bat first, Bangladesh tasted immediate success when Boss Man, Chris Gayle departed for a duck, edging behind in the 4th over, as the Bangla pacers bowled with intensity & purpose, making the Windies batsmen toil hard for runs. However, Evin Lewis & Shai Hope then started to build the innings laboriously, but definitely. The pair added 116 runs for the second wicket, before Shakib had Lewis caught at long off for a well made 70 runs. Pooran in next, departed after a good start & then Hetmyer came in to up the tempo along with Hope & took the score to 242. Blasting a quickfire 50 off just 26 deliveries, Hetmyer looked promising for a long haul, & with 7 wickets in hand the Windies looked good for a huge total. But just then, in the 40th over, Hetmyer miscued a slog to get out & then the big hitting Andre Russell too departed in the same over for no score to Mustafizur - the Windies run feast derailed. Capt Holder & Bravo along with Hope did get some lusty hits in, but the last five overs yielded just 33 runs, & the innings folded at 321 runs for 8 wickets. Holder smashed the longest six of the tournament thus far with a 105 meter long hit, scoring 33 in just 15 deliveries, but could not stay till the end, which would have probably got them another 30-40 crucial runs. The two big hitters Gayle & Russell had gone without score, which in the end would come to haunt the former Champions. The Bangladesh bowlers stuck to a plan & did not allow the Windies to break shackles, despite getting tonged on occasions.
In chase, Bangladesh openers Tamim & Soumya were subjected to a barrage of bouncers by the Windies pace bowling, but they repelled the attack with well placed slashes & spot jumps to punch on the rise, while scoring at more than run a ball, as 50 run mark came up in the 8 overs, before Saumya was caught by Gayle in the gully. In form Shakib walked in next & immediately settled in as the West Indies pacers started to look jaded & out of ideas. Tamim got out against the run of play, as Cottrell caught the ball in his bowling follow through & broke the stumps at the striker's end, in the 18th over with score reading 121 for 2. Mushfiqur got out cheaply to raise some hopes for the floundering Caribbeans, but next man Liton Das settled easily in the middle with Shakib & the two tore apart the Windies attack to smithereens, stitching a 189 runs partnership in just 22.3 overs, to take Bangladesh home to victory by 7 wickets, with more than 50 balls to spare !!
Bangladesh, having slayed two top teams South Africa & West Indies in this tournament, & are now looking good to compete for a semis slot - the fans can certainly hope, as the gallant tigers of Bengal come of age in the big stage.
The West Indies pace battery which had given rousing hopes to their fans at the beginning of the tournament, were without a plan B, & once attacked back, looked amateurish & toothless - frustrated as they were, the fielding also looked dismal, with Russell struggling to even run & the field placing lacked imagination, as Shakib & Liton clobbered them at ease all around the ground. Shakib produced one of his best batting performance, hitting an unbeaten 124 runs from 99 balls, while Liton Das, on his World Cup debut, remained non out for a whirlwind 94 off just 69 deliveries - sad he missed on a well deserved century.
Records tumbled for Shakib, as this was his 2nd century on the trot in this tournament & also his fifth consecutive fifty plus score, taking his ODI total past 6000 runs, & becoming highest run getter for Bangladesh in World Cups. He also currently tops the chart of run getters in this tournament, with 384 runs, ahead of Aaron Finch with 343 & Rohit Sharma at 319 runs.
Inviting West Indies to bat first, Bangladesh tasted immediate success when Boss Man, Chris Gayle departed for a duck, edging behind in the 4th over, as the Bangla pacers bowled with intensity & purpose, making the Windies batsmen toil hard for runs. However, Evin Lewis & Shai Hope then started to build the innings laboriously, but definitely. The pair added 116 runs for the second wicket, before Shakib had Lewis caught at long off for a well made 70 runs. Pooran in next, departed after a good start & then Hetmyer came in to up the tempo along with Hope & took the score to 242. Blasting a quickfire 50 off just 26 deliveries, Hetmyer looked promising for a long haul, & with 7 wickets in hand the Windies looked good for a huge total. But just then, in the 40th over, Hetmyer miscued a slog to get out & then the big hitting Andre Russell too departed in the same over for no score to Mustafizur - the Windies run feast derailed. Capt Holder & Bravo along with Hope did get some lusty hits in, but the last five overs yielded just 33 runs, & the innings folded at 321 runs for 8 wickets. Holder smashed the longest six of the tournament thus far with a 105 meter long hit, scoring 33 in just 15 deliveries, but could not stay till the end, which would have probably got them another 30-40 crucial runs. The two big hitters Gayle & Russell had gone without score, which in the end would come to haunt the former Champions. The Bangladesh bowlers stuck to a plan & did not allow the Windies to break shackles, despite getting tonged on occasions.
In chase, Bangladesh openers Tamim & Soumya were subjected to a barrage of bouncers by the Windies pace bowling, but they repelled the attack with well placed slashes & spot jumps to punch on the rise, while scoring at more than run a ball, as 50 run mark came up in the 8 overs, before Saumya was caught by Gayle in the gully. In form Shakib walked in next & immediately settled in as the West Indies pacers started to look jaded & out of ideas. Tamim got out against the run of play, as Cottrell caught the ball in his bowling follow through & broke the stumps at the striker's end, in the 18th over with score reading 121 for 2. Mushfiqur got out cheaply to raise some hopes for the floundering Caribbeans, but next man Liton Das settled easily in the middle with Shakib & the two tore apart the Windies attack to smithereens, stitching a 189 runs partnership in just 22.3 overs, to take Bangladesh home to victory by 7 wickets, with more than 50 balls to spare !!
Bangladesh, having slayed two top teams South Africa & West Indies in this tournament, & are now looking good to compete for a semis slot - the fans can certainly hope, as the gallant tigers of Bengal come of age in the big stage.
The West Indies pace battery which had given rousing hopes to their fans at the beginning of the tournament, were without a plan B, & once attacked back, looked amateurish & toothless - frustrated as they were, the fielding also looked dismal, with Russell struggling to even run & the field placing lacked imagination, as Shakib & Liton clobbered them at ease all around the ground. Shakib produced one of his best batting performance, hitting an unbeaten 124 runs from 99 balls, while Liton Das, on his World Cup debut, remained non out for a whirlwind 94 off just 69 deliveries - sad he missed on a well deserved century.
Records tumbled for Shakib, as this was his 2nd century on the trot in this tournament & also his fifth consecutive fifty plus score, taking his ODI total past 6000 runs, & becoming highest run getter for Bangladesh in World Cups. He also currently tops the chart of run getters in this tournament, with 384 runs, ahead of Aaron Finch with 343 & Rohit Sharma at 319 runs.
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