When Bangladesh took on the hard-hitting West Indies in the England grounds on Monday, 17th June, the Bangla tigers put on a splendorous show to throttle the Windies as former captain Shakib Al Hasan along with Liton Das let their batting do all the roars. At first the bowlers restricted the Windies freedom of batting, but still they managed to score a good target, but in the second half, Bangladeshi batsmen were unstoppable and they easily cruised to the set target.
Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl first and pretty soon they ceased the wicket of Windies vice-captain Chris Gayle (0 out; 13b) as Mohammed Saifuddin got his first wicket. However, Evin Lewis (70 out; 67b; 6X4, 2X6) and Shai Hope put (96 out; 121b; 4X4, 1X6) a 116 runs stand for the second wicket in 25 overs, before experienced Shakib-al-Hasan scalped Evin Lewis. Shimron Hetmeyer (50 out; 26b; 4X4, 3X6) and captain Jason Holder (33 out; 15b; 4X4, 2X6) added individually with powerful cameos while the rest either succumbed without contributing anything or consumed too many balls in the process. With the loss of 8 wickets West Indies still managed to hit a total of 321 after 50 overs.
Bangladesh batted on the crease in a different form all together, mostly attacking the ball at a steady rate. Openers Soumya Sarkar (29 out; 23b; 2X4, 2X6) and Tamim Iqbal (48 out; 53b; 6X4) started cruising Bangladesh towards a good fight, and Soumya Sarkar took the lead. But Andre Russell broke the partnership in the 9th over. After that, Bangladesh didn’t need to worry about the scores anymore, as Shakib Al Hasan (124 not out; 99b; 16X4) turned out to be the hope that Bangladesh needed. He guided Bangladesh to the end of the game and in a while, Liton Das (94 not out; 69b; 8X4, 4X6) joined him and the heroics they pulled through for the rest of the game West Indies bowlers were not finding it easy to stop them. Hasan completed his 2nd century in the ongoing ICC World Cup and Liton das fell just 6 runs short of his century as Bangladesh passed the target set by the Windies at ease losing only 3 wickets, with 8.3 overs to spare.
