Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bowlers, led by pacer Taskin Ahmed, gave Bangladesh an unlikely chance in the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, but the batters were blown away by the West Indies as the Tigers suffered yet another huge defeat on Tuesday.
Bangladesh were skittled for 132 runs by the West Indies in the second innings to lose the match by 201 runs in the first hour of the fifth and final day. This was Bangladesh’s fifth straight defeat in Tests after clinching a famous 2-0 clean sweep over Pakistan in August-September.
Bangladesh started the day with 225 runs still needed and with only three wickets remaining.
Alzarri Joseph took two wickets in the morning. Hasan Mahmud was outside-edged before Jaker Ali was trapped in front. Shoriful Islam was hit on the back of his head off Joseph and as a result was unable to continue.
It is the first time since 2022 that all the wickets were taken by the West Indian pacers in a match. The last time it happened was also against Bangladesh, in Gros Islet when 19 wickets were taken by the seamers.
On Monday, Bangladesh surprised everybody by declaring overnight with one wicket remaining even though they were trailing by 181 runs in the first innings.
The bold move, presumably to use the assistance from the pitch, proved tactically right as the West Indies were bundled out for 152 in 46.1 overs in the second innings despite Bangladesh missing multiple chances.
Taskin bagged his first five-wicket haul in his 16-match Test career. The right-arm pacer had 6-64, his best figure in first-class cricket.
The West Indies lost three wickets in quick succession for 39 runs, with Taskin taking two, before Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze steadied the ship a bit.
Taskin broke through again by dismissing Hodge. Taskin, with the help of the spin duo of captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam, kept striking regularly.
Before the tea interval, Taskin clean bowled Shamar Joseph to bag his fifth. A superb catch taken by Mehidy at mid-off off Kemar Roach ensured his sixth.
Mehidy took two wickets, including that of top scorer Alick Athanaze (42) while Taijul and Shoriful Islam took one each.
But Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, and Roach added some valuable runs on a tricky pitch to ensure that Bangladesh would need to battle hard to get away.
Bangladesh, however, made the worst possible start to their chase of 334 runs when Roach bowled opener Zakir Hasan off an inside edge with the fifth ball of the innings.
Fellow opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy then edged Seales to Justin Greaves at third slip before Roach snapped Shahadat Hossain and Mominul Haque in quick succession to leave Bangladesh reeling at 23-4.
Liton Das led a mini-recovery, but when he fell to Shamar Joseph, who saw four catches go down off his bowling for 22, the visitors were in deep trouble at 59-5.
Mehidy went on the counterattack with a 46-ball 45 before edging Seales to Joshua Da Silva behind the stumps. In his next over, Seales bowled Taijul to end the day with 3-31.
The second and final Test starts on November 30 at the Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.
