Shakib flexes muscles as Bangladesh stun Windies
● Batsman hits majestic 124 as his side complete record run chase at Taunton
Shakib Al Hasan revealed Bangladesh’s record run chase against the West Indies was the result of their refusal to panic.
Bangladesh moved above the West Indies and up to fifth place in the World Cup standings with a comprehensive seven-wicket win at Taunton.
The Tigers reached their target of 322 with 51 balls to spare, setting a new Bangladesh run chase record and one that was the second highest in the history of the World Cup.
It was just seven runs shy of the 329 Ireland scored to beat England at Bangalore in 2011.
“At the end of the first innings no one felt that it would be tough,” said Shakib, who reached three figures for the second time in the event with a majestic unbeaten 124.
“Everyonewasconfidentthat we could chase those runs.
“We felt comfortable and relaxed in the dressing room when we started, and at no point in time did we panic.
“It was important that there was no panic in the dressing room, even when we lost some wickets.”
Bangladesh were cruising at 118 for one in the 18th over when Tamim Iqbal was brilliantly run out by Sheldon Cottrell, the West Indies paceman throwing down the stumps as the ball was played back to him.
Mushfiqur Rahim quickly followed but Shakib and Liton Das (94 not out) saw Bangladesh home in style with an unbroken stand of 189 – the second highest for the fourth wicket in World Cup history. Shakib also moved past Australia captain Aaron Finch as the tournament’s highest scorer, his innings of 75, 64, 121 and 124 not out putting him out in front on 384 runs.
“I have been contributing with ball, bat and my leadership,” Shakib said. “It’s been key to the team and I hope it continues.
“We have to play our best cricket and everyone needs to chip in. I was determined to do well [in the World Cup] but I can take nothing for granted.
“At this moment I’m seeing the ball really well, and I think it was one of the best [innings].”
Bangladesh’s win took them to within one point of fourthplaced England in the race for a semi-final spot – but the hosts, who play Afghanistan at Old Trafford today, do have a game in hand.
The West Indies’ hopes of making the last four now look exceedingly slim after three defeats and a no result in five games.
Unbeaten pair New Zealand and India are their next two opponents.
“If we want to go through into the semi-finals we’ve got to beat the best teams,” said skipper Jason Holder.
“We’ve got to back ourselves and be more clinical with the ball. A few top edges didn’t go our way, but we didn’t help ourselves as well.
“We’ve also got to score more runs because we haven’t got a batsman with a hundred yet.
“I thought we were short at the halfway stage. I thought with the pitch dimensions we could have got 365-375 but we were well short – 40 or 50 runs.”