Tri-Nation SeriesTigers off to flying start routing West Indies

Bangladesh got off to a flying start in the Tri-Nation Series outplaying West Indies by eight wickets with five overs to spare denying back-to-back century by Caribbean opener Shai Hope at the Castle Avenue in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday.

Bangladesh, which suffered a humiliating 88-run defeat against Ireland A in the lone practice match on Sunday, showed a confident batting approach today that featured three half centuries by Tamim Iqbal (80), Soumya Sarkar (73) and Shakib Al Hasan (not out 61).

Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar made the strong foundation of the innings contributing 144 runs in 26 overs in the opening stand.

Tamim furnished his 116-ball innings with seven fours while Soumya Sarkar made a polished 73 runs off just 68 balls featuring nine fours and a six and world-famed all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan scored run-a-ball 61 hitting three fours and two sixes.

After restricting West Indies to 261, Bangladesh chased down the target of 262 in 45 overs to win their first game of the ongoing series in Ireland.

Soumya removed by Roston Chase for 73 off 68 with nine fours and one six and Tamim scored 80 off 116 with seven fours. Soumya was aggressive in the middle, but Tamim more concentrated on building the innings.

They set a solid platform standing on which Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim finished the game in style. Shakib remained unbeaten on 61 while Mushfiqur came up unbeaten for 32. Bangladesh ended on 264/2 in 45 overs.

Shannon Gabriel and Roston of West Indies took one wicket each conceding 58 and 51 runs respectively.

Earlier, West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first. But they failed to replicate the same dominance what they displayed in the first match in spite of an opening stand of 89 runs by Shai Hope and Sunil Ambris.

Sunil Ambris, who missed the chance to bat in the first game, opened the innings on Tuesday with Shai Hope and fell as the first batsman scoring 38. Mehidy Hasan Miraz broke the first wicket stand.

Right after the fall of the first wicket, the Caribbean lost Darren Bravo for only one run. He was hunted by Shakib Al Hasan.

However, in the third wicket stand, opener Shai Hope paring with two down Roston Chase contributed 115 runs to make a good platform for posting a big total on the board.

But, that did not happen due to the dismissal of Roston and Hope in a span of two runs by Tigers captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

Roston scored 51 and Hope fell for 109 runs which was his third ton against Bangladesh in just seven innings. Hope was adjudged man of the match for his century.

In the last 7.5 overs, West Indies lost five wickets adding only 54 runs.

Tigers captain Mashrafe was the most successful bowler taking three wickets for 49 runs in his 10-over spell while Mohammad Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman grabbed two wickets each conceding 47 and 84 runs respectively, bowling 10 overs each.

This was the Mustafiz’s second worst bowling in ODI after conceding 93 against New Zealand last year.

On the other hand, Shakib and Mehidy conceded 33 and 38 runs respectively taking one wicket each.

Shai Hope was awarded the man of the match for his brilliant knock of 109, though it went in the vein at the end of the day as the Carribean lost the game.