West Indies registered their second-smallest margin of victory in T20I cricket, against Bangladesh on 29 October in Sharjah. They posted 142/7 after Mahmudullah won the toss and asked them to bat, and restricted Bangladesh to 139/5.
West Indies pushed Chris Gayle to open with Evin Lewis, and dropped Lendl Simmons. They also gave Roston Chase a maiden T20I cap, and brought in Jason Holder. The moves did not change their fortune initially: they lost both Gayle (4) and Lewis (6) by 4.2 overs. In fact, they only managed 29 in Powerplay.
Chase, dropped by Mahedi Hasan (2-27) off his own bowling in the seventh over, then anchored the innings. Shimron Hetmyer (9) tried to play aggressively, but did not last long. Chase (39 in 46 balls) and Kieron Pollard (14 in 18) rebuilt the innings before the latter retired hurt in the 13th over.
Andre Russell departed next ball, without facing a ball, run out unfortunately at non-striker’s end. West Indies were only 62 at that stage.
Nicholas Pooran stood tall, and Holder gave the support he required. While Pooran struck four sixes and a four in his 22-ball 40 before falling to Shoriful Islam (2-20), Holder remained unbeaten on a 5-ball 15, with two sixes in the last over, to take West Indies get past 140. Bangladesh conceded 19 off the final over – Pollard returned to hit a six as well – which later proved very costly.
Bangladesh promoted Shakib Al Hasan (9) to open with Mohammad Naim (17). Both fell cheaply inside the Powerplay. Soumya Sarkar (17) and Liton Das steadied the ship, adding 39 in 30 balls before the former was undone by Akeal Hosein (1-24) in the 11th over.
Bangladesh required 83 in 56 balls after Sarkar’s dismissal. Das took charge from there, and added 30 with Mushfiqur Rahim, where the latter contributed with 8 before being cleaned up by Ravi Rampaul (1-25) in the 14th over.
Mahmudullah (31* in 24) joined Das, and the pair added 40 in 33 balls, when Dwayne Bravo dismissed Das (44 in 43) with the last ball of the penultimate over.
Russell needed to defend 13 off the last over. He got the job done with six accurate deliveries to keep the West Indies alive in the tournament despite some sub-par fielding, particularly in the last over.
Brief Scores: West Indies 142/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 40; Shoriful Islam 2-20) beat Bangladesh 139/5 in 20 overs (Liton Das 44; Jason Holder 1-22) by 3 runs. Player of the Match: Nicholas Pooran.