The West Indies finished day one slightly with the upper hand as they scored 223 runs losing five wickets at stumps in the decisive second and final Test match in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Thursday.
Middle-order batsman Nkrumah Bonner batted solidly in the last two sessions as the right-hander was unbeaten on 74 from 173 deliveries with half a dozen boundaries.
Bonner and Joshua da Silva’s unbroken 45-run partnership in the final hour gave the visitors advantage in the end.
The first hour Friday morning will be crucial for both the teams as the Windies will look to put on a big total in the first innings after winning the toss, while Bangladesh will prefer to wrap the Caribbean side up anywhere around 250.
Bangladesh made three changes in their playing XI from the last Test as Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mithun and Abu Jayed came in replacing Shadman Islam, Shakib al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
Shadman and Shakib were ruled out due to injury and Mustafizur was actually dropped.
It seems Soumya has been chosen as the opener and his inclusion raised eyebrows as Saif Hasan, who is part of the Test squad, was overlooked as the opening partner of Tamim Iqbal.
Bangladesh opted for a single pacer again as Abu Jayed was picked over left-arm paceman Mustafizur, who bowled well in the Chittagong Test.
The ball goes past Soumya Sarkar as Liton Das and a thankful Joshua da Silva look on AFP
The West Indies, 1-0 ahead in the series, made one alteration to their side for the Dhaka Test as young pacer Alzarri Joseph came in place of the experienced fast bowler Kemar Roach.
Eventually it was a good toss to win for captain Kraigg Brathwaite, as he and fellow opener John Campbell batted well in the first hour of play.
Brathwaite and Campbell were looking comfortable at the middle and the tourists were 66 without loss after 20 overs, and going well.
Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam got the much needed breakthrough when he trapped Campbell in front as he missed the straight ball while trying a sweep shot, in the fourth ball of the 21st over.
Campbell took a review straightaway after the umpire raised the finger and TV replays showed a very fine tickle in the ultra-edge detector.
But perhaps the evidence was not conclusive enough as the decision went in Bangladesh’s favor as the original decision of out was not changed.
Campbell looked dejected while returning to the pavilion but the left-hander was successful in giving his side a good start alongside his skipper in the first session.
The Windies went into the lunch break for the loss of one wicket, that of Campbell, with the score on 84 in 29 overs.
Shayne Moseley is cleaned up by the persevering Abu Jayed, who took two wickets alongside Taijul AFP
But Bangladesh bounced back after lunch as they bagged three wickets to dominate the second session.
Paceman Jayed picked up the first wicket after lunch when Shayne Moseley played on for seven runs in pursuit of a widish delivery.
Later, well-set batsman Brathwaite, thorn in the home side for his consistent displays throughout the Test series, was out for 47 when he was caught at slip by Nazmul Hossain Shanto off a Soumya delivery in the opening delivery of the 42nd over.
Few overs later, Bangladesh notched another important wicket as Kyle Mayers, the double centurion and hero from the first Test, was caught at wide slip by Soumya off a swinging delivery from the persevering Jayed.
Mayers fell for only five this time from 18 deliveries.
Jamaican lad Bonner though halted the slide in the middle-order with a gritty display as he formed a 62-run partnership with Jermaine Blackwood for the fifth wicket.
After tea, Bangladesh initiated another breakthrough as Taijul once again broke the partnership by taking a caught and bowled to dismiss Blackwood in the 72nd over, giving the home side hope of running through the Windies lower-order in the latter part of the day.
But Bonner and wicketkeeper-batsman Da Silva (22 not out) saw out the day without any further hiccups as the visitors ended on 220-plus, crucially with half their side still intact.
2ND TEST, DAY 1 R B
Brathwaite c Shanto b Soumya 47 122
Campbell lbw b Taijul 36 68
Moseley b Jayed 7 38
Bonner not out 74 173
Mayers c Soumya b Jayed 5 18
Blackwood c & b Taijul 28 77
Da Silva not out 22 46
Extras (lb 2, nb 2) 4
Total (90 Ov, RR: 2.47) 223/5
Fall Of Wickets
1-66 (Campbell), 2-87 (Moseley), 3-104 (Brathwaite), 4-116 (Mayers), 5-178 (Blackwood)
Bowling
Jayed 18-5-46-2, Miraz 22-5-39-0, Nayeem 12-1-42-0, Taijul 30-5-64-2, Soumya 8-1-30-1
