Dhaka, Bangladesh – Marlon Samuels hit a stroke-filled 58 for West Indies but a superb 41 not out by Mushfiqur Rahim led Bangladesh to a dramatic victory in the one-off T20 International at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was the best score of Samuels’ T20 International career. He hit two fours and four sixes off 42 balls as the Windies ended on 132-8 off their 20 overs. In the second half of the match he was awesome with his off-spin sending down four overs for just 14 runs. He bagged the vital wickets of Mohammed Ashraful – well caught by Anthony Martin running back at point, and Shakib Al-Hasan – bowled through the gate.
However, Mushfiqur, in his first match as captain, made all the difference in the end as he ended unbeaten on 41 off 26 balls. He hit a big six off the penultimate ball to take his side to 135-7, and victory by three wickets.
After the match West Indies captain Darren Sammy was disappointed with the outcome but said there is still a lot to play for in the upcoming three-match One-Day Series, which bowls off on Thursday afternoon, and the two Test matches.
"Hats off to Mushfiqur … he played well and took it from us. From the start we knew it was going to be an interesting series. We saw a very exciting match today which went down to the wire," Sammy said. "We never took them for granted. We know Bangladesh are a good team. Today, they held their nerves better than we did. We could have scored more runs, and we could have stopped more balls in the field. But in the end we made more mistakes than they did, that is why we lost.
Sammy added: "I had the belief our bowlers could defend the score. We defended 113 against England at the Oval a few weeks ago but tonight it did not go our way. Throughout the match it fluctuated … it went back and forth and things happened quickly. In the end Bangladesh got over the line. It was good to see the way Marlon performed today. He is playing very well at the moment and is doing his all for the team with bat and ball."
The West Indies will have a training session on Wednesday at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium as they prepare for the first One-Day International on Thursday at the same venue. First ball in the day/night match is 1.30 pm (3.30 am Eastern Caribbean Time/2.30 am Jamaica Time).
Looking ahead, Sammy said: "This is the start of the series so we will regroup and come back. We have the three One-Dayers and the two Test matches so there is a lot to play for. We will look at the areas where we went wrong today (Tuesday) and lift our game for the upcoming matches."