|| Desk Report ||

West Indies' miserable run with the bat continued as Bangladesh put up a clinical bowling display to restrict the team for 195/9 in the ODI series-opener .

Mashrafe Mortaza, who is playing his 200th ODI, was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers, returning figures of 3/30. Mustafizur Rahman also took three wickets while the other three bowlers in the lineup – Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, and Rubel Hossain, picked up one wicket each.

Eyeing to win their first ODI series since its victory against the Tigers at home in 2014, West Indies brought in Darren Bravo and Roston Chase to replace Fabian Allen and an injured Jason Holder, who were part of the playing eleven in their last ODI series against India.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, had a full-strength team at their disposal – nearly three months after trying a number of combinations in the 50-over format – as Tamim Iqbal and Shakib have finally returned from injuries.

West Indies captain Rovman Powell won the toss and opted to bat first at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday (December 9).

Knowing their struggle against spin-bowling, Bangladesh started with spin from both ends and it certainly paid them off as Shakib earned the breakthrough in the eighth over of the innings by removing Kieron Powell for 10 runs.

The Caribbean side found it hard to keep the score ticking against the opponents’ tight bowling and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Their biggest partnership came for the seventh wicket when Roston Chase and Keemo Paul shared a 51-run stand. Both the batsmen made 30-odd runs and Shai Hope topped the run-scoring charts with a 43-run innings while the other batsmen failed to exceed the 25-run mark.

Mustafizur, who was absent in Bangladesh’s last ODI against Zimbabwe, was having quite an uneventful day until breaking the crucial partnership between Chase and Keemo in his ninth over. He dismissed both of them in successive overs, before sending Devendra Bishoo back to the hut for a duck.

While Chase played an important knock on his return, Bravo failed to make any impact, scoring 19 off 51 deliveries.