Windies will lift game for decider
SKIPPER CARLOS Brathwaite that says that he hopes West Indies could be at their best for tomorrow’s decider after conceding they were not up to scratch in yesterday’s 36-run defeat in the second Twenty20 International.
Sent in, Bangladesh posted 211 for four off their 20 overs – the highest-ever T20 total on home soil – and West Indies folded for 175, with four balls remaining, to leave the threematch series tied at 1-1.
The hosts grabbed the early advantage courtesy of Liton Das, who smashed 60 from 34 balls, posting 42 for the first wicket with Tamim Iqbal (15) and a further 68 for the second with Soumya Sarkar (32).
When three wickets fell for 10 runs in the space of 12 balls, Mahmudullah (43 not out) and captain Shakib-al-Hasan (42 not out) combined in an unbroken 91-run, fifth-wicket stand to give the innings a rousing finish.
“I don’t think that we got it right in the first six overs, so we were always chasing the game,” Brathwaite said afterwards.
“But when you say ‘A’, you have to say ‘B’. Credit must go to the Bangladeshi batsmen. Obviously Liton Das chanced his arm early, got away, got a decent score and then Mahmudullah and Shakib kept the momentum right to the end.
“We didn’t bowl as well as we wanted, but if I’m to be brutally honest, we still thought they were 10, 15 runs short with how Good the wicket was. I guess we could’ve been a bit tighter with
OFF NIGHT
Brathwaite put the performance down to an “off night”, however, promising that West Indies would lift their standard for the all-important match at the same venue.
“We didn’t have our best day in the field, but that doesn’t mean we’re a bad fielding team,” he stressed.
“We’re still as good a fielding team as we were in the first game. That display was excellent. We just had an off night tonight. We should bring our A-game come the last game and try to win the series 2-1.”