A late revival by Bangladeshi bowlers restricted West Indies to 247-7 after opener Chris Gayle and one-down Darren Bravo struck half-centuries in the second one-day international of the three-match series at St George Park on Friday. Gayle scored his first half-century almost in a year but could not prolong his innings to more than 58 runs while Bravo left for 53 runs thanks to some controlled bowling by the tourists.
Bangladesh spinners did a commendable job to stifle West Indies in the middle overs and a two-wicket burst by Mashrafee bin Murtaza in successive balls of penultimate over did not allow them to go for any wild slog in the death overs as well.
West Indies could reach close to 250 only because of two sixes struck by Sunil Narine in the final over bowled by Al-Amin Hossain, who until this hammering did well to support his standout new-ball partner Mashrafee.
Mashrafee finished with 3-39 with Al-Amin claiming 2-60 to help Bangladesh keep West Indies within reach after Mushfiqur Rahim opted to bowl first on a rain-soaked pitch.
Al-Amin sent back opener Kirk Edwards cheaply to give the Tigers, who were trailing West Indies by 0-1, a perfect start but Gayle looked ominous after many days.
The left-hander, who was his pall shadow in recent matches against Bangladesh, put 88 runs with Bravo to seize the early momentum.
Gayle smashed five sixes and three fours during his stay before Mahmudullah removed him with slight touch of luck as Gayle somehow mistimed off a short-pitch ball to hole out a catch at deep midwicket.
Gayle’s perennial nemesis Sohag Gazi took the catch to bring Tigers back into the contest.
Bravo and Denesh Ramdin further exploited the platform to add 56 off 50 balls before Bangladeshi bowlers started to take control of the game by stalling the run-rate through stopping the boundaries.
West Indies were unable to find the fence from 25 to 34 overs and could add just 25 runs during batting powerplay.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak did well enough to justify his selection in place of Taskin Ahmed by containing West Indies batsman in crucial overs, though he did not get any wicket.
Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard looked threatening during their 51 run in fifth wicket stand, but Mashrafee scalped both of them in his last spell to keep theTigers firmly in the contest.
Simmons made 40 off 61 balls while Pollard, the man of the match in the first ODI, could add only 26 off 20 balls this time.
Razzak went for 43 runs in his 10 overs while Bangladesh’s two other spinners Sohag Gazi and Mahmudullah finished with identical figure of 1-47.
-With New Age input
