With the six-wicket win in the first ODI, Bangladesh made a flying start to the Bangabandhu Bangladesh vs West Indies Cricket Series. The second ODI will take place at the same venue on January 22 and the third match will be played in Chattogram.
Shakib Al Hasan, the ace all-rounder who returned to international cricket after his ICC ban, won the man of the match award for his four-wicket haul conceding eight runs in 7.2 overs.
“My focus was to put the ball in the right areas and let the pitch do the rest,” he said after the match. “To be honest, I don't count (my batting in the) domestic games. Outside the dressing room, people may think about those performances.”
Shakib scored 19 off 43 balls.
Bangladesh won the toss and sent the Caribbean to bat first. The touring side, who are missing many of their regular campaigners, failed to post a challenging total on the board. With six debutants in the playing XI, West Indies tumbled for 122 for all wicket in 32.2 overs.
Bangladesh sealed the game with six wickets and 97 balls in hand. Tamim Iqbal, the new Bangladesh captain, posted 44 to guide his team to an easy win.
Bangladesh ended up on 125 for four in 33.5 overs. For West Indies, Akeal Hosein, the debutant left-arm spinner, bagged three wickets conceding 26 runs in 10 overs. The other wicket was taken by Jason Mohammed, the stand-in ODI captain of West Indies.
Along with Shakib, debutant right-arm pacer Hasan Mahmud bagged three wickets to bowl West Indies out for 122.
Tamim's decision to bowl first proved to be a good one as Mustafizur Rahman took the first wicket in the second over of the match.
Sunil Ambris, 7, went to flick Mustafizur but missed the ball which hit his pad, and he was judged LBW. Sunil went for DRS, but the third umpire upheld the decision of the main umpire.
Before posting 50 runs on the board, the WI, who fielded six new faces in this game, lost two more wickets. Along with Sunil, Mustafizur removed the other opener of WI as well- the debutant Joshua Da Silva for 9.
Shakib started taking wickets by removing another debutant Andre McCarthy for 12. It was an arm ball and the batsman missed it while sweeping away. With this dismissal, Shakib completed 150 wickets at home. He also bagged the next two wickets removing Jason Mohammed and Nkrumah Bonner.
Hasan announced his arrival removing Rovman Powell and Raymon Reifer in two consecutive deliveries. Mehidy Hasan Miraz took the ninth wicket and Shakib pull off the last one to wrap the WI for 122 runs in 32.2 overs.
At the end of the match, Tamim applauded bowling efforts from the pacers. He said: “No complaints. We bowled really well. The way Fizz (Mustafizur) started was very good. Rubel (Hossain) also started very well. The young guy, Hasan (Mahmud), bowled really well. The spinners were also really good. Shakib and Mehidy (Hasan Miraz) also bowled really well. It was a very difficult wicket to bat on. Even if you wanted to play aggressive shots, you couldn't. Initially, when I saw the wicket, I thought it would play really good. There was no sun throughout the day, so you cannot blame anyone. On this kind of wicket, you can't just go in and swing your bat. I thought whoever batted batted quite sensibly.”
