Feb. 14, 2021, 11:17 a.m.
West Indies v Bangladesh | Day 4, 2nd Test
Venue: Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Result: West Indies won by 17 runs to take series 2-0
Scoreboard with Live Scores: bit.ly/banvwi2ndtest
Today’s weather: http://bit.ly/mirpurweather
Cornwall on Cloud 9 in amazing series win for West Indies
Rahkeem Cornwall led the way with another four wickets as West Indies beat Bangladesh in a thrilling finish to seal the two-match series. The tall off-spinner, who had claimed five wickets in Bangladesh’s first innings, took 4-105 – with the other six shared between fellow spinners Kraigg Brathwaite and Jomel Warrican as the home were bowled out short of the target.
Mehidy Hasan, who had led a valiant effort by the Bangladesh tail as they added 50 for the last two wickets, was the last man to fall for 31 – with Cornwall diving to scoop up the catch when Warrican found the edge. Cornwall was named Man-of-the-Match.
Resuming with an overall lead of 154 and seven second-innings wickets standing, West Indies’ batsmen were able to increase that by only 75 as Taijul Islam (4-36) and Nayeem Hasan (3-34) rolled them over for 117.
Nkrumah Bonner (38) and Joshua da Silva (20) were the only players to post double figures, leaving Bangladesh to chase 231 for victory and square the series. Opener Tamim Iqbal raised the home side’s hopes with a brisk knock of 50 from 46 balls, adding 59 for the first wicket with Soumya Sarkar (13) before the pair both fell to Brathwaite (3-25).
“I would say it’s a team effort. We had a plan, enjoyed it, and happy to win the series. I wasn’t surprised with my wickets of the openers. Wanted to come on, keep it tight. Nice it’s a series win in Asia since 2012 for the first time. Coming here without some players, with the protocols and so on,” Brathwaite said.
“This means everything back home. Cricket means everything to us. People will be proud. People wrote us off. But we kept it simple, enjoyed it, and we proved them wrong.”
Cornwall said:
“It was a good performance. The whole team had a good energy from day one and the coaching staff backed us. Once the conditions gave a bit of spin, I enjoyed it. I always back myself, try to put the ball in the right areas. You just have to be patient, be consistent and build pressure. I’ve been doing a lot of work in the morning in slip fielding. When the ball comes to me, I wanted to catch it.”
Cornwall and Warrican (3-47) then chipped away at Bangladesh’s middle order, with Mominul Haque (26) and Liton Das (22) both getting starts without progressing to play the match-winning innings their side needed. At 163-8, the Tigers looked doomed – only for Mehidy and Nayeem (14) to hold up proceedings with a stand of 25 until skipper Brathwaite brought himself back on to trap the latter leg before.
Last man Abu Jayed kept Mehidy company, surviving 14 deliveries without scoring as his partner nudged the total above 200 but, with the target moving into range, Warrican applied the final blow to seal West Indies amazing win.
-CWI
