West Indies rout toothless Tigers

Bangladesh hit a new low, humiliated at home by nine wickets.

DHAKA:

The West Indies destroyed Bangladesh by nine wickets in an embarrassingly one-sided contest, dismissing the World Cup co-hosts for just 58 runs their lowest ever one-day total.

In front of a stunned capacity crowd of 25,000 in Dhaka, the home side’s batting imploded and they were all out in just 18.5 overs, sparking angry scenes from supporters who hurled placards from the stands.

Ruthless bowlers annihilate the hosts

The Caribbean side romped to their second win of the tournament in just 12.2 overs, with Chris Gayle making an unbeaten 37 and sit second in Group B with four points from three games, level on points with South Africa.

Spinner Sulieman Benn impressed with the ball and  grabbed four for 18 and fast-bowlers Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy claimed three wickets each as Bangladesh fell well short of their previous one-day low of 74, notching the fourth lowest score in World Cup history.

Junaid Siddique and Mohammad Ashraful were the only two batsmen who made it into double figures in a match that could prove pivotal to quarter-final hopes with India, South Africa and England also in Group B.

Skipper praises  motivational Gayle

West Indies skipper Sammy praised teammate Gayle for a motivational speech that inspired his side.

“It was a brilliant performance by my teammates,” he said. “Gayle wasn’t feeling well today but I thought he came out and showed how committed he is to the cause.

“He said ‘do not take Bangladesh lightly’. We were a little flat in the warm-up and he didn’t like that so he encouraged us to go out there and remember Bangladesh would be coming hard at us.

The West Indies skipper said he was delighted at the start his side had, dismissing the dangerous Tamim Iqbal in the first over and he was happy personally to take three wickets.

“We went out there. We knew how crucial this game was for us,” he said.

“We’ve always fancied ourselves but from here it’s up to us to go out there and play competitive and consistent cricket.”

Bangladesh skipper’s ‘worst day’

Disappointed Bangladesh captain Shakibal Hasan was at a loss to explain his team’s disastrous showing, adding that he understood the fans’ frustrations.

“We have a lot of things to work on now. We have to sit down and think about it but hopefully we will come back strongly.”

He said reaching the quarter-finals was still possible after one win out of three so far, with the game against England in Chittagong now a “must-win”.

“I did not expect that we would play so badly. This has to be the worst day of my career.”

The World Cup co-hosts, together with India and Sri Lanka, with one win from three games, were left with a mountain to climb to stay in contention for the quarter-finals.

They face England, South Africa and the Netherlands in their remaining group matches. But Shakib remained confident that Bangladesh were not yet out of the race.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.