BAN vs WI | Athanaze, Hope, and Shepherd star as West Indies seal T20 series with clinical win

‌West Indies breathed a sigh of relief after their ODI series loss to Bangladesh last week as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match T20I duel in Chattogram on Wednesday. Captain Shai Hope once again shone with the bat and, along with Alick Athanaze, took the visitors to a respectable total before Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein picked up three wicket hauls to ensure a 14-run win for the Windies.

Opting to bat first at the Bir Sreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium, the Caribbean side got off to a shaky start, losing opener Brandon King cheaply in the second over of the game. However, captain Shai Hope and fellow opener Alick Athanaze played without any baggage as the side ended the six-over powerplay at 50/1. The pair took the visitors past the 100-run mark during their century stand for the second wicket before Athanaze was dismissed by left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed. The southpaw smashed three sixes and five fours during his 33-ball 52, with the other set batter Hope also following suit in the next over. He hit three fours and three sixes to score 55 off 36 balls but the Windies batting unravelled after the pair’s departure. They could add just 44 runs in the last nine overs, losing eight wickets, ending their innings at 149/9. Left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman was the pick among the Bangladesh bowlers with a spell of 3/21 in four overs, while the spin duo of Nasum Ahmed and Rishad Hossain took two wickets each.

In reply, the hosts started cautiously before losing Saif Hassan in the fourth over, with the score reading just 13. Captain Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan were cautious not to lose any more wickets in the powerplay as they reached an underwhelming 37/1 after six overs. Litton looked well set for a big one, after a promising start, but was castled by Akeal Hosein after scoring four boundaries in his 17-ball 23. Opener Tanzid was still there as he got to fifty in style, with a boundary off Romario Shepherd in the 15th over. The hosts looked in a good position as they needed 33 runs in the last three overs with seven wickets in hand. But Tanzid’s dismissal in the first ball of the 18th over turned the plot as the hosts lost five wickets for 18 runs to finish at 135/8. The left-handed batter top-scored for the Tigers with 61 off 48 balls, a knock that included three fours and sixes, but no other batter threatened to take the game away from the Windies. Medium pacer Shepherd, who scored 13 off 16 with the bat, shone with the ball too with a spell of 3/29 in four overs, while left-arm spinner Hosein ended with 3/22 in his four-over spell.