After Jayden Seales hit a career-best 4 for 22, West Indies easily won by seven wickets to complete their first bilateral ODI series victory over Bangladesh in a decade.
Bangladesh could only muster 227 after Seales’ first session reduced the visitors to 64/4 in 11 overs and 54/3 during the powerplay. Billy777 Seales struck three times. With 13.1 overs remaining, the hosts overcame the tiny target, led by Brandon King.
Despite the Tanzid Hasan comeback at the other end, Seales’ decision to bowl first in St. Kitts was justified when they had Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, and Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz strolling back to the pavilion cheaply inside the powerplay.
The visitors were at 64/4 after the opener batted brilliantly, hitting four boundaries and a couple of sixes in his 33-ball stay for 46 before being dismissed by Justin Greaves.
After dropping anchor and putting up a 36-run stand with Afif Hossain, there was a brief revival. The visitors were left reeling at 104/6 in 21 overs when Gudakesh Motie joined the party and dismissed Afif and Jaker Ali in the following overs. It was made worse by Rishad Hossain’s eight-ball duck.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib then joined Mahmudullah, and the two of them stitched a valiant 92-run partnership for the eighth wicket to give the Bangladeshi total some respectability. Sakib opened his account with nine deliveries, but the senior hitter initially took the lead.
When the ball was in his striking arc, Mahmudullah didn’t hold back. He even blasted sixes to make the most of the foul balls on either side of a maiden over by Romario Shepherd.
Sakib, who gained confidence with each ball he made, sent Bangladesh over the 150-mark with a six off Motie, who concluded a superb performance with 2 for 36.
Mahmudullah drove his team past 200 with a six and a four off Greaves in the 43rd over after reaching his fifty in 84 balls, his fourth at the site in six innings.
But Sakib was only five runs away from fifty thanks to a superb return catch made by Roston Chase in his followthrough. Soon after, SEales resumed the attack and hit right away, dismissing Mahmudullah.
Before being bowled out in the 46th over, Bangladesh managed a decent 227 thanks to a cameo of 15 from Shoriful Islam, who scored 4,4,6.
An opening stand of 109 between King and Evin Lewis helped the West Indies, chasing a below-par 228. King started as the aggressor while Lewis was having trouble getting into his flow, but together, they ensured the home team had a strong foundation to build the chase.
Lewis, who batted on six off 23 at one point, changed gears and helped his team reach the 50-run mark by taking on Sakib with a 4,6,4 in the ninth over. The West Indies were comfortably positioned at 54 without losing after the first powerplay.
Mehidy’s late fireworks stopped when Rishad Hossain caught him and bowled him one short of a fifty after Lewis had hit him down the ground for a couple of sixes and even got life in between.
King continued to anchor as he partnered with Keacy Carty for a 66-run partnership, with the latter doing most of the scoring. King had previously scored a fifty off 52 balls.
After hitting seven boundaries in his 47-ball stay, Carty was dismissed by Nahid Rana, who had earlier removed King with a brilliant diving catch, making him the second hitter from the West Indies to be denied a half-century.
But with seven wickets and more than 13 overs remaining, Sherfane Rutehrford’s lusty blows—two sixes and a four in a 15-ball 24—sealed the deal for the hosts, who were now just 31 runs away from clinching the series.
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Short scores: West Indies 230/3 in 36.5 overs (Brandon King 82, Evin Lewis 49, Keacy Carty 45) defeated Bangladesh 227 in 45.5 overs (Mahmudullah 62; Jayden Seales 4-22, Gudakesh Motie 2-36) by seven wickets.