It was so close yet so far for Tigers as they goofed up a chance of a lifetime when they allowed west Indies to win the second ODI by 3 runs to square the three match series 1-1 in the match held on the early hour of Thursday at Guyuna.
Bangladesh had the golden opportunity to wrap up the series by taking unassailable 2-0 but Tiger batsmen just ran out of ideas as they committed hara-kiri allowing the match to their rival in a platter.
Mushfiqur Rahim despite playing a responsible knock could not deliver in the end. It was unbelievable with seven balls remaining, Tigers required only just eight runs away for victory.
Just imagine windies bowlers bowled two full tosses and instead of scoring the required 8 runs Bangladesh batsmen gifted their wickets with the offender none other than Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman who failed to finish the job.
Sabbir was out in the final delivery of the 49th over as he failed to dispatch the toss for a boundary as he hit the full toss from Keemo Paul into the hands of deep midwicket.
On the very next delivery, Mushfiqur (68) pulled a full toss from Jason Holder straight to deep midwicket. It left Bangladesh needing eight runs off the final five deliveries with two new batsmen failed to score the required runs as skipper Holder conceding four runs for the remaining balls of that over.
Earlier Shimron Hetmyer ‘s second ODI hundred enabled Windies to a total of 271.
Bangladesh started well with Anamul Haque’s blistering 23 off nine balls dominating the opening stand of 32.
Once he was done in by a slower delivery from Alzarri Joseph in the third over, the pair of Iqbal and Hasan kept it going, bringing up the team 100 in the 15th over.
The Windies had little to celebrate till the 25th, when they finally succeeded in breaking the second-wicket stand at 97. Iqbal, who made a hundred in the first ODI, danced down the wicket to Devendra Bishoo, missed, and was stumped for 54.
Hasan earned a reprieve when an lbw decision off Bishoo was reversed, but couldn’t capitalise, caught by Keemo Paul off Ashley Nurse for 56.
With the run-rate creeping above 7 an over, Rahim and Mahmudullah dug in to add a steady 87. However, at a crucial juncture in the chase, miscommunication in the middle resulted in Mahmudullah being run out.
What a final over from Windies captain @Jaseholder98 to hold off Bangladesh for a 3 run win last night! ? #WIvBAN pic.twitter.com/vGnotMTqKs — ICC (@ICC) July 26, 2018
What a final over from Windies captain @Jaseholder98 to hold off Bangladesh for a 3 run win last night! ? #WIvBAN pic.twitter.com/vGnotMTqKs
— ICC (@ICC) July 26, 2018
Rahim seemed set to pull off victory, getting to 68 off 67 before Holder’s heroics.
Earlier, it was 21-year-old Hetmyer who had given the Windies something to bowl at, backing up his fifty in the previous match with a fighting century here.
Holder’s men got off to a cautious start, adding just 34 in the Power play. With none of the top order building on their starts and the going slow, the youngster’s fifth-wicket stand of 103 with Rovman Powell (44) was crucial.
The duo played out the economical Mehidy Hasan, and focused on rotating strike, lifting the hosts from a precarious 102/4. Hetmyer, dropped by Shakib Al Hasan on 85, stepped it up towards the end, even as he lost Powell, who was bowled by Rubel Hussein (3/61).
The youngster struck three fours and seven sixes in his 93-ball 125. He was the last man out, but not before dominating the last-wicket stand of 29, where his partner made just one run. In the end, those were the runs that made all the difference.
