After a sorry outing in the Test series recently, not much was expected from the Tigers in the ODI adventure against the Caribbean outfit. After winning the toss and batting first, Bangladesh lost Anamul Haque in the second over itself as he got out for a duck.

At the time, one could forgive the fans for thinking that the Tigers are going to meow like a cat and get bundled for a low score as this was a common sight in the Test series.

However, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal dug themselves on the pitch and ground out a 207 runs partnership to ensure that the Tigers didn’t have to face the embarrassment of another collapse.

The partnership also broke numerous records. For starters, this was the highest partnership for the second wicket in the history of Bangladesh cricket while also being the biggest stand between Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.

Also, the 207 runs from the pair were the highest in Guyana.

While there were complaints about how slow both the batters were batting, the pitch was actually on the slow side and focusing on not losing the wickets was more important than scoring at a faster rate.

The duo played very calculatedly as they didn’t press on the gas before Mushfiqur Rahim came in and played a spellbinder of an innings.

The wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 30 runs from 11 balls while Tamim Iqbal also accelerated, in the end, to put up 279 runs on board, which was more than the par score on the track.

Tamim Iqbal carried the bat after scoring 130 runs from 160 balls while Shakib Al Hasan missed out of his century by only 3 runs as Devendra Bishoo got him out for 97 from 121 balls.

Bishoo was the most successful Windies bowler as he took two wickets in his 10 overs while giving away 52 runs. Jason Holder and Andre Russell also took a wicket each.

In response, West Indies started quite slow and lost the wicket of Evin Lewis and Shai Hope in quick succession as they found themselves lingering at 41 for 2 after 12.1 overs.

There was a bit of a partnership between Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmeyer but the former was run-out for 40 runs. Jason Mohammed came in and was the next to depart followed by Shimron Hetmeyer, who scored 52 runs from 78 balls.

The rest of the batsman couldn’t do much as West Indies mustered 231 runs in their 50 overs, thanks to a 59 runs 10^th wicket partnership between Devendra Bishoo and Alzarri Joseph.

Captain Mashrafe was the pick of the bowlers for the Tigers as he took four wickets and gave away only 37 runs from his 10 overs. Mustafizur Rahman took two wickets while Rubel Hossain and Mehidy Hasan scalped a batsman each.

Speaking after the loss, West Indies captain Jason Holder said that the team didn’t execute the plans that had been laid out.

“They played some good cricket today. I felt we were pretty good till the 45th over but it fell away after that. Not enough partnerships with the bat as well. We did not execute today. We need to do it better with the bat and the ball. We just got to prepare well. We obviously had our plans today but that did not go well.”

Meanwhile, winning captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who returned to international cricket after about six months, hoped that the team carries on with their good form.

“I have not bowled for long. The knee is alright. It is always hard but I enjoy on the ground. Just play with your heart as you are playing for your nation. Hopefully, we will carry on from here. We won here against South Africa in 2007. Batting was challenging but Shakib and Tamim set the tone for us and Mushy played a blinder at the end.”