Tigers maul West Indies
Mehedi Hasan Miraz put the exclamation point on Bangladesh's most dominant performance in 18 years and 112 Tests with a 12-wicket haul as the Tigers outclassed West Indies by an innings and 184 runs on the third day of the second Test yesterday, thereby sealing a 2-0 whitewash.
It was sweet revenge for the Tigers, who underwent a similar mauling in the Caribbean in July this year, losing the two Tests in Antigua and Jamaica. But when it came to playing in Chattogram in the first Test and especially at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in the second, Bangladesh held all the cards.
A series of firsts were established in the process. When Mehedi took four of West Indies' five remaining first-innings wickets yesterday morning to help dismiss the hapless tourists for 111, it enabled skipper Shakib Al Hasan to enforce the follow-on for the first time in the country's history. After Mahmudullah Riyad's 136 led the hosts to 508 over the first two days, West Indies had the tough task of scoring 398 runs to make Bangladesh bat again.
They never looked like doing it, losing 15 wickets in the day to be all out for 213 in the second dig and handing Bangladesh their first ever innings-victory and their first Test whitewash in a home series. Mehedi followed his seven for 58 in the first innings with a five for 59 in the second for combined match figures of 12 for 117 -- the best by a Bangladeshi, eclipsing his own match-winning 12 for 158 against England in 2016. His nine wickets, across two innings on the third day, was also the best by a Bangladeshi in a single day.
As Bangladesh's big first innings total proved, the pitch was not a minefield, but none of West Indies' top-order batsmen had gotten that particular memo.
The 22-year-old Shimron Hetmyer -- who was alone in displaying the fearsome characteristics of great West Indian batsmen past -- was the only tourist to show any aptitude for batting against spin. He scored 34 in West Indies' first innings of 111 -- the lowest total by any team against Bangladesh in Tests -- and followed that up with a blistering 92-ball 93 which included nine sixes and one four. He actually hit eight sixes before a single four was struck in the second innings, which showed how well Bangladesh's arsenal of spinners had bowled to the fields set for them.
Mehedi, however, stood head and shoulders above the rest and even had the measure of Hetmyer. He dismissed the talented youngster, whom he had locked horns with in age-level cricket, in all four innings of the series. Shakib, meanwhile dismissed opposite number Kraigg Brathwaite in both innings, and Taijul Islam -- who went wicketless in the first innings -- joined in on the fun by picking up three wickets for 40 runs in the second innings yesterday.
Comments