Cricket World Cup: Bangladesh chase 322 to beat West Indies

Shakib Al Hasan’s sublime unbeaten 124 helped Bangladesh pull off the second highest chase in World Cup history with a dominant seven-wicket win over West Indies at Taunton.

Set 322 for victory, the Tigers made a rapid start but lost two quick wickets to leave the game evenly poised at 133-3 off 19 overs.

But Shakib took apart West Indies’ one-pace attack, reaching his second successive century of the tournament off 83 balls.

He put on 189 with Liton Das, who accumulated calmly before sensationally accelerating, hitting Shannon Gabriel for three consecutive sixes.

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan in action in the ICC Cricket World Cup against the West Indies

Das, making his World Cup debut, ended with a brilliant 94 not out off 69 balls, hitting a four to take Bangladesh to their target with 51 balls to spare.

West Indies’ 321-8 was built around Shai Hope’s measured 96, Evin Lewis’ entertaining 70 and a brutal 26-ball 50 from Shimron Hetmyer.

Victory lifted Bangladesh to fifth in the table and maintains their chances of reaching the semi-finals, while also effectively ending West Indies’ hopes.

Jason Holder’s side will have to win their four remaining games, including tough matches against India and New Zealand, to stand a chance, but they looked stunned after a chastening defeat.

This was no shock, though – Bangladesh have now won five one-day internationals in a row against West Indies and outperformed them in all areas.

Shakib & Das dismantle West Indies

West Indies’ fast bowlers started the tournament dismantling top-order batsmen but their effectiveness has waned and the lack of a plan B was ruthlessly exposed here – 55% of all deliveries were short despite Bangladesh playing that length with ease.

Openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar cut and pulled with aplomb, as did Shakib after Sarkar guided to Chris Gayle in the slips.

It meant Bangladesh never had to panic about the required rate, even when Tamim was brilliantly run out by Sheldon Cottrell – gathering a drive hit back to him and throwing down the stumps in one movement – and Mushfiqur Rahim was caught behind down the leg side.

Still the five Windies pace bowlers kept dropping short or pushing it too full and were punished by Shakib, who hit exquisite drives down the ground and brought up his ninth ODI hundred with a sumptuous cover drive.

A dejected West Indies were hampered by the injured Andre Russell – who earlier made a two-ball duck – barely able to jog after six laboured overs, meaning they had to resort to Gayle’s gentle off-breaks, while they were also sloppy in the field.

Das capitalised, knocking it around to reach 50 off 43 balls before hitting his next 44 runs off just 26 deliveries as Bangladesh rushed to victory in front of their joyous fans.

In chasing 322, they beat their own mark in passing 319 against Scotland in 2015, behind only Ireland’s successful pursuit of 328 against England in 2011.

Windies rue slow start

Despite posting a challenging total, West Indies could have scored more but for a tame start in which they scored only 32 runs off 10 overs, the lowest first powerplay score of the tournament.

Opener Gayle, who now tends to start slowly and make it up quickly, was unable to do the second part of that approach, nicking Mohammad Saifuddin behind for a 13-ball duck.

Lewis and Hope consolidated in a stand of 116 until the former was caught at long-off for 70 before Nicholas Pooran’s entertaining 25, which included him breaking a roof tile with a mighty six, was ended by another miscue.

Hope kept nudging singles, while Hetmyer and Jason Holder, who hit 33 off 15 balls provided overdue brutality, both heaving sixes out of the ground.

Hope fell four short of a century when he clipped Mustafizur Rahman to square leg in trying to accelerate and, while he had anchored the innings well, facing 52 dot balls in 121 deliveries proved costly.

‘It was a total massacre’ – reaction

Former West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose on BBC Test Match Special: “West Indies can give you a brilliant performance and then they are very, very ordinary.

“It was a good score but they came out and bowled absolute rubbish and the Bangladesh batsmen capitalised and won this game handsomely. It was a total massacre.”

Man of the match Shakib Al Hasan: “I have been working on my batting for the last month and it has been paying off.

“I need to contribute with the ball as well. I am doing OK but I can get better.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza: “We have a chance to go through but we have to win all of our matches.

“Shakib has made it in this World Cup. In every match he’s doing something exceptional and let’s hope it continues.”

West Indies captain Jason Holder: “We were probably 40-50 runs short. The wicket played really well but we could have been more disciplined with the ball and we let ourselves down in the field as well.” – bbc.com