Brief scores:
West Indies: 198/9 (50 overs) (Chandrapaul Hemraj 9, Shai Hope 108*, Darren Bravo 10, Marlon Samuels 19, Shimron Hetmyer 0, Rovman Powell 1, Roston Chase 8, Fabian Allen 6, Keemo Paul 12, Kemar Roach 3, Devendra Bishoo 6*; Mustafizur Rahman 0/33, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 4/29, Shakib Al Hasan 2/40, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza 2/34, Mohammad Saifuddin 1/38, Mahmudullah 0/14)
Bangladesh: 202/2 (38.3 overs) (Tamim Iqbal 81*, Liton Das 23, Soumya Sarker 80, Mushfiqur Rahim 16*; Kemar Roach 0/16, Roston Chase 0/32, Keemo Paul 2/38, Marlon Samuels 0/25, Devendra Bishoo 0/48, Fabian Allen 0/22, Rovman Powell 0/21)
Result: Bangladesh won by 8 wickets, clinch series 2-1
Man of the Match: Mehedi Hasan Miraz (Bangladesh)
Man of the Series: Shai Hope (West Indies)
Bangladesh completed yet another ODI series victory at home as they beat the West Indies convincingly by eight wickets in the third and final ODI at Sylhet International Stadium Friday (Dec 14).
With this win, the Tigers sealed the series 2-1.
Bangladesh bowlers did a splendid job containing the opponent for 198/9, before the top-order batsmen showcased a dominating performance by winning the match with 69 balls to spare.
Left-handed batsmen Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar added 131 for the second wicket as the former, who struck the winning boundary to take the score to 202/2, made an unbeaten 81 while the latter scored 80 to make the chase really easy.
Tamim and Liton Das made a fluent start and the right-handed stroke-maker looked to be in touch as he struck five boundaries in his 33-ball innings but once again, he fall prey to a poor shot, much like other instances in his career so far.
Liton tried to pull a Keemo Paul delivery in the 11th over only to be caught at the edge of the 30-yard circle at mid-off by Rovman Powell.
He was out for 23, leaving the side on 45/1.
Tamim carried on his innings in a sort of sedate way, but Soumya was in blistering touch, taking on the spinners and pacers alike, hitting five fours and as many sixes.
As always, a couple of towering sixes of Soumya went over the sightscreen and straight into the jam-packed crowd that cheered every shot of the Tigers in a boisterous way.
The stadium, which became the 200th venue in the world, and 8th in Bangladesh to host an ODI, saw many people waiting outside for a ticket, while every inch of the gallery, including the only green stand in the country, was filled to the rafters.
However, Soumya was bowled by Paul in the 36th over scoring 80 off 81 and Mushfiqur Rahim, who remained not out on 16, navigated the side to safety alongside Tamim.
Paul was the only wicket taker for the visitor with figure of 2/38.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who opened the bowling, earned his best ODI figure of 4/29 bowling 10 overs to strangle the opponent, despite another heroic century by Shai Hope.
Hope, who scored a match-winning 146 in the second match, remained not out on 108 off 131, but he did not get proper support from the other end as the next best was Marlon Samuels’ 19.
With this innings, Hope finished the series with a total of 297 runs and the same average, surpassing Shane Watson’s record of 294 against Bangladesh back in 2011.
Man-of-the-match Miraz got rid of opener Chandrapaul Hemraj for nine, before cleaning up Darren Bravo for 10 to reduce the Windies to 57/2.
Hope and Samuels took the score to 96 but Saifuddin dismissed Samuels before Miraz removed Shimron Hetmyer (zero) and Powell (one) in quick succession to leave the visitor in tatters.
The Caribbean side could never recover from that situation, and had to finish with a below-par score, in spite of the man-of-the-series Hope’s heroics.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who led the side for record 70th time in ODI, and his long-time teammate Shakib al Hasan, finished with two wickets apiece to make their usual important impact in a Bangladesh win.
Bangladesh won the first of the three matches by five wickets. Mashrafe and Mustafizur Rahman had taken three wickets each while Mushfiqur Rahim hit a fifty to propel the Tigers to their first win. The Caribbean side came back strongly in the second match, thanks to a stunning century by Hope, which was also his career-best knock.
After the ODI series, both teams will lock horns in a three-match Twenty20 series. The first encounter of the series will take place in Sylhet on Dec 17 while the remaining two matches will be held in Dhaka on Dec 20 and 22 respectively.
While the first match will kicks off at 12.30 p.m., the others two will be held from 5 p.m.
