Batting woes return to haunt Tigers

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy lifts one on the on-side during his unbeaten knock of 60 in the fourth one-day international against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.Photo: STAR

It was a doomed night although initially Lady Luck smiled in favour of Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who won the crucial toss for the first time in the series. However, there were no celebrations for the capacity crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on a chilly night; instead the fans returned home frustrated as the batting ghosts returned to haunt the Tigers once again.
The Tigers allowed the fans to dream of a rare series win, but it was the Tigers themselves who shattered that dream through poor batting in the second session as West Indies pacers struck while the iron was hot to level the series 2-2 by winning the fourth game of the five-ODI series by 75 runs yesterday. Now, today's fifth match, which starts at the same venue at 2:30 pm, has turned into the final.
Darren Sammy led his side from the front with a fantastic all-round show to snatch the momentum from Mushfiqur's men, who failed to carry on their Khulna form in Dhaka. The Caribbean skipper first rescued his side from a batting debacle as his unbeaten 60 runs gave the visitors a respectable total of 211 and then his medium-pace bowling ripped through the Bangladesh top-order to set a platform for his side to clinch a massive win.
Chasing the 212-run target Bangladesh, reeling at 5-13, were in danger of falling to their lowest score in ODIs by beating their 58 all out against the same opponents during the 2011 World Cup at the same venue. Mahmudullah Riyad however joined his captain to avoid the blushes, associating 74 runs for the sixth wicket. Mahmudullah hit a second consecutive half-century as the elegant right-hander remained not out on 56, but his effort made hardly any impact on the match. Instead Bangladesh, who were bundled out for 136 runs in 34.1 overs, have to look at what problems have suddenly infected their batting after showing real character in the first two games in Khulna. There has long been a trend of losing wickets like ninepins following one dismissal; Khulna saw a refreshing change in that regard but it seems as if they have lost that rhythm in their batting again.
And another concern that reared its head yesterday was their fielding. A team can't hope to win a match if they drop five catches, which is what they did in the crucial encounter. In the end everybody must blame poor batting for the defeat but it is hard to accept the fact that Shohag Gazi dropped an easy chance from match hero Sammy on the boundary off Mashrafe Bin Mortaza when the batsman was on 30.
Earlier, dangerman Marlon Samuels survived twice -- first, courtesy of Naeem Islam who grassed a chance at slip off Mashrafe, and then Elias Sunny failed to clutch a return catch, an act the left-arm spinner repeated against Kieran Pollard. Sunny, after having only himself to blame in the first two instances, was again unlucky when Mushfiqur dropped Darren Bravo off his bowling.
Earlier, at one stage the 200-run mark was a distant reality for the visitors after Mashrafe once again got rid of Chris Gayle early to open the floodgates for the spinners, who got fine turn from the pitch to trouble the batsmen as West Indies lost half their wickets for 79 runs. The visitors were then reduced to 155 for eight, but Sammy took away the momentum from the Tigers, smashing five fours and two sixes during his 62-ball knock.
Bangladesh played with one pacer for the first time since 2009, when they played against Zimbabwe at home, and their plan clicked brilliantly till the late surge from Sammy, who played a gem on a track where every other delivery was turning square and the hosts had enough ammo to exploit it.
But still, after the first innings nobody thought that the total was going to be enough for the West Indies to save the series, but ironically it was the visiting pacers who took charge on a spinners' pitch in the second innings to turn the tables on the hosts.