Mehidy spins Bangladesh to ODI series win over West Indies

Bangladesh registered a seven-wicket win over West Indies in the second ODI at Dhaka on Friday.

Tamim Iqbal hit a half-century while spinner Mehidy Hasan claimed a career best 4-25 on Friday as Bangladesh sealed the three-match, one day series 2-0.

Tamim hit 50 off 76 balls to steer Bangladesh to 149-3 in 33.2 overs after West Indies, missing nearly all their top stars, were all out for 148 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

Bangladesh won Wednesday’s opening match by six wickets and kept up the pressure after the West Indies stand-in captain Jason Mohammad won the toss and opted to bat.

Mehidy led the attack while spinner Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Mustafizur Rahman complemented with two wickets each.

Rovman Powell hit 41 off 66 balls while debutant opener Kjorn Ottley and Nkrumah Bonner made 24 and 20 respectively to boost the West Indies score.

West Indies spinner Akeal Hossain trapped Liton Das for 22 before skipper Mohammed grabbed the wicket of Najmul Hossain for 17 to give West Indies some hope.

Tamim, who hit three fours and a six, and the experienced Shakib then frustrated the visitors to make sure of victory. Shakib remained unbeaten on 43.

“It was nice to spend some time in the middle,” Tamim said.

“There is a lot of hunger in the dressing room, and there are people breaking the door down like Saif (Mohammad Saifuddiin) and Taskin (Ahmed),” he added.

West Indies skipper Mohammed was again disappointed with the performance of his side.

“We didn’t build partnerships and lost wickets in clusters, so that’s just not good enough. There’s some positives, but hopefully some other guys put their hands up as well,” he said.

Mustafizur claimed the first breakthrough for Bangladesh by removing Sunil Ambris for six hitting a catch to Mehidy.

West Indies’ wicket woes only increased when Bangladesh introduced their spinners.

Mehidy removed Ottley and Joshua Da Silva (5) in the same over while Shakib bowled Andre McCarthy for only three.

Kyle Mayers, the highest scorer in the previous match, was run out for zero before Shakib trapped skipper Mohammed leg-before for 11 to leave the West Indies floundering at 67-6.

Powell and Alzarri Joseph put on 32 for the ninth wicket to help West Indies past 100 runs.

Mustafizur, who gave away just two runs in his opening four overs, returned to remove Joseph for 17. Mehidy stumped Powell to wrap-up the innings in 43.4 overs. The final match is in Chittagong on Monday.