Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam showed no rust despite coming to play his first ODI after 28 months as he registered his maiden five-for in this format to steer Bangladesh to a four-wicket win in the third and final game against West Indies at Providence Stadium in Guyana on Saturday.
The victory extended Bangladesh’s winning streak to 11 in a row against West Indies and also fulfilled their aspiration to complete a clean sweep.
Bangladesh earlier were whitewashed in two-match Test series and also lost the three-match T20 series by 2-0 (first game ended in a no result).
Taijul, a Test regular, played his last ODI in March 2020 against Zimbabwe before this match but once he got the opportunity to play another game he grabbed this with both hands, claiming 5-28 which dismissed West Indies for 178 in 48.4 overs.
The total was good, considering the Caribbean side’s batting collapse in the first two ODIs in which they put up 149 and 108.
Bangladesh also found them in a position of embarrassment after getting such large target for the first time in slow Guyana pitch. However Liton Das hit 50 off 65 and Nurul Hasan Sohan gave the finishing touch with 32 not out as Bangladesh reached the winning target in 48.3 overs.
Captain Tamim Iqbal made 34 off 52, sending the ball across the rope for four times but his fellow opener Najmul Hossain Shanto continued his bad patch, scoring just 1.
Tamim and Liton then shared 50-run for the second wicket stand as Bangladesh looked to overhaul the target with ease.
West Indies left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie who took his career-best 4-23 in 10 overs got into act, dismissing Tamim and sparked a mini collapse then saw Bangladesh reduced to 96-4 from 70-1.
In this period, Bangladesh also lost Liton Das who struck five fours and one six for his 50 off 65 and Afif Hossain for duck.
Motie then got rid of Mosaddek for 14, leaving Bangladesh 116-5. As it looked, Bangladesh may concede a defeat from this point, Nurul Hasan Sohan came up as rescuer as he played with utmost serenity to keep the side’s nose in front.
Mahmudullah who scored 26 was dismissed by Nicholas Pooran before finishing the match. Sohan didn’t do that mistake as he sailed the side home with Mehidy Hasan Miraz who scored 16 not out.
Earlier, West Indies who was asked to bat first, improved their batting record, thanks to captain Nicholas Pooran, who made 73 off 109 with four fours and two sixes. He got a support from Keacy Carty, who scored 33.
But only two other batters could reach double digit figure with Romario Shephard making 19 and Rovman Powell scoring 18.
Apart from Taijul’s five-for, Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman snapped up two wickets apiece.
