After losing the Test and T20 series against West Indies, Bangladesh made a brilliant turnaround in the ODIs to take home some pride.
Taijul Islam took his maiden five-wicket haul before Litton Das scored a fifty as Bangladesh beat West Indies to win the third ODI by four wickets and complete a series sweep at Providence Stadium in Guyana on Sunday. Earlier, Bangladesh had lost the Test and T20 series.
Bowling first, Bangladesh dismissed West Indies for 178 all out in 48.4 overs with Taijul Islam claiming five wickets for 28 runs. Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took a brace each.
For the hosts, skipper Nicholas Pooran hit a defiant fifty (73 off 109). Keacy Carty scored 33 off 66. The Windies were 16/3 in the 5.3 overs, then Carty and Pooran briefly thwarted Bangladesh. And the wicket of Pooran, bowled, being the scalp the completed Taijul's maiden ODI fifer!
In reply, Bangladesh lost Najmul Hossain Shanto early, but Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das put together 50 runs for the second wicket to steady the ship. However, West Indies fought back in the game with Gudakesh Motie’s career-best figures of 4-23 as Bangladesh had slipped to 116 for 5 at one stage.
But Mahmudullah and Nurul Hasan’s 31-run stand for the sixth wicket revived the chase. Bangladesh reached their target eventually with nine balls to spare.
Brief Scores: West Indies 178 in 48.4 overs (Keacy Carty 33, Nicholas Pooran 73; Taijul Islam 5/28) lost to Bangladesh 179/6 in 48.3 overs (Tamim Iqbal 34, Litton Das 50, Nurul Hasan 32 not out; Gudakesh Motie 4-23) by four wickets.
West Indies: Shai Hope (wk), Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Nicholas Pooran (c), Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph.
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (c), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehidy Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh had defeated West Indies by six wickets in the rain-affected first ODI, then followed it up with a nine-wicket win in the second.
A win in the third ODI will give Bangladesh a back-to-back 3-0 series sweep against the Windies. Last year, Bangladesh blanked Windies 3-0 at home. Also, Bangladesh are on a ten-match-winning run in this fixture.
Bangladesh, however, lost the two-match Test series 0-2 and the T20I, 0-2 after the first outing ended in no result due to rain.