Bangladesh made a mess in their pursuit of a second win in the World Cup and were shot out for their lowest ever total of 58 runs to concede a humiliating nine-wicket defeat to West Indies on Friday.
The match ended well before the scheduled innings break as West Indies overhauled the total in little over 12 overs, sparking an angry reaction from the local fans.
The fans, who supported the Tigers so passionately in their previous game against Ireland, this time burnt banners and festoons and showed them shoes on their way back to hotel.
They also mistakenly threw stones at the West Indies team bus, which drew a huge attention in the international media, dealing a serious blow to Bangladesh’s reputation as perfect hosts.
The crowd reaction was not beyond any imagination as they watched the home side cave in meekly without a fight against a side that they were expected to beat.
Sakib al Hasan won the toss for third time in a row in the tournament and readily decided to bat first hoping to put on a total around 250 runs which was very much defendable on the slow turning track.
But nothing went right for Bangladesh since then and they looked totally out of sorts after opener Tamim Iqbal was caught by West Indies skipper Darren Sammy at second slip off express bowler Kemar Roach.
Tamim let the first two deliveries of the over to go before he failed to curb his instinct in the third and paid the price for his wayward drive.
West Indies opened their bowling with left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn from the other end, but quickly realised the mistake after he conceded nine runs in the over.
Sammy replaced him in the fourth over and was immediately rewarded with the wicket of Imrul Kayes who, being unable to fend off a short ball, nicked behind the stumps.
Sammy also had Mushfiqur Rahim caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan at short mid-wicket before Roach trapped Junaed Siddique, the eventual top-scorer with 25, in front.
As pressure piled on, Benn reaped the full benefit to take four wickets as Bangladesh were all out in 18.5 overs, posting their lowest ever score, which was previously 74 against Australia at Darwin in 2008.
When last man Rubel Hossain was bowled by Benn, who finished with 4-18, the fans started booing Bangladesh as the players trudged back to the pavilion.
In their cricket history, Bangladesh were all out in less than 20 overs only once previously when New Zealand bowled them out for 77 runs in Colombo in 2002.
Even then they had batted 19.3 overs which they could not do this time. The poor batting also significantly damaged their run rate which could come into consideration at the end of group stage.
West Indies did not need to bother too much about the run chase and ambled past Bangladesh’s total in 12.3 overs with Chris Gayle remaining unbeaten on 29.
Naeem Islam took the wicket of Devon Smith to help the Tigers avoid a defeat by a maximum margin, but that hardly brought any consolation.
Courtesy of New Age
