Johannesburg, Sept 13: Bangladesh battered West Indies by 6 wickets on Thursday in the Twenty20 World Championship at Johannesburg. With this they not just registered another historic victory but also upset the Twenty20 championship by ousting West Iindies out of the tournament.
Mohammad Ashraful was declared Man of the match for his superb 61 runs from just 27 balls. Puffed with confidence and zeal, Ashraful said, "We knew we can get the 160+ score. We have worked hard for the last one month. We had commando training and then some hard nets sessions."
Earlier, the first match of the day was started after an hour’s delay due to dampness in the track.
It was Bangladesh’s day as they won the toss and opted to bowl first. Bangladesh skipper Mohammed Ashraful sounded pretty confident with a good number of youngsters in the squad.
West Indies got the first jolt of the match as they lost the wicket of their star batsman Chris Gayle in the opening over. Chris Gayle tried to smash the ball to the boundary but was caught by Alok Kapali on Syed Rasel’s delivery. He was dismissed on the duck. The first over was bowled wicket maiden by Rasel.
Bangladeshis adopted the aggressive strategy and tried to maintain the pressure on the opposition at Johannesburg.
West Indies steadily gained the rhythm after they were made to pooh by Bangladesh bowlers. Smith and Chaderpaul provided the momentum to the innings and made the score card ticking at a sound pace. The match’s face started changing in the third over. Mashrafe Mortaza started it with a hatrick of wide balls. This was a bonus for West Indies who steadily came out of the pressure mounted over them after the fall of their first wicket.
West Indies were concealed by Bangladesh as they lost their second wicket just when they (Windies) came back in the match. S Chanderpaul was dismissed by Abdur Razzak. He gave away a simple catch to Mashrafe Mortaza. He made 37 off 31 balls.
Samuels tried to release the pressure mounted on the West Indies by hitting 2 sixes and 2 fours in an over before getting out on Ashraful’s ball. He made 27 of just 14 balls. He smashed the ball for another big hit but was caught by Shakib bul Hasan. He hit 2 sixes and 2 fours before he was caught by Shakib Al Hasan.
Bangladeshi bowlers continued the attack and kept sending Windies’ batsmen to the pavilion. Ramdin became Shakib Al Hasan’s victim and gave away a simple catch in hands of Mushfiqur Hasan.
Sarwan, was stumped by wicket keeper Mushfiqur Rahim on Shakib Al Hasan’s delivery. He made just 5 runs from 7 balls.
Windies lost wickets on regular intervals against Bangladesh who bowled pretty well. In order to keep the run rate high enough for the opposition, West Indies batsmen tried to hit every delivery for the boundary and lost wickets.
After the completion of 20 overs, West Indies managed to take the score card to a competitive 164 runs against Bangladesh. Bangladesh bowlers gave a tough fight and restricted Windies batsmen as to keep the target under their affordability.
Bangladesh started well and smashed Windies bowlers to make the pretty decent target look petty within minutes.
Amidst fire works performed by Bangladesh batsmen, they lost wickets of their openers Nazimuddin and Tamim Iqbal. Iqbal hit 2 fours to add his valuable 10 runs to the score board. He was caught by Chanderpaul on Rampaul’s delivery. Nazimuddin sould not attack much and managed just a single on four balls.
Determined Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful led the innings in a position that could set another upset in the Twenty20 World Championship. Huge runs that came off his willow left Windies bowlers helpless. He completed his fifty in style from just 20 balls. His fifty included 7 fours and 3 huge sixes.
Aftab Ahmed who remained not out till the end and contributed valuable match winning 62 from just 49 balls. He smashed 8 fours and a six before finishing the match in Bangladesh’s favour.
Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful had already paved the way for a stunning but a well deserved victory for the team. Before making a proud march to the pavilion he almost murdered the so called opposition and did the job he was allocated for. His quick fired 61 runs came from just 27 balls.
Shakib Al Hasan tried to finish off in a hurry and smashed the ball before he was caught by Powell on Sarwan’s bowl. He added 13 runs from just 9 balls to the score board.He was the last batsman to get out by West Indies.
Bureau Report
