Thaindian News

Dhaka, March 4 (IANS) The West Indies raced to a nine-wicket victory against Bangaldesh after bowling out the co-hosts for 58, the lowest World Cup total by a Test playing nation, in front of a stunned home crowd.

Chris Gayle knocked off 37 of those runs, hitting six fours, and took the West Indies home with Darren Bravo (9) at the other end. Devon Smith (6) was the only wicket to fall.

The entire match lasted merely 31.1 overs. Bangladesh folded up in just 18.5 overs and West Indies took 12.2 overs to complete the chase.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach (3-19), who took a hat-trick against the Netherlands in their previous match in New Delhi, dismissed opener Tamim Iqbal in the first over and Bangladesh never recovered from there. West Indies captain and seamer Darren Sammy, who was looking to hit form, joined Roach to take three wickets. Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn bowled impressively, getting turn from the wicket to take four wickets.

The three wrapped up Bangaldesh innings in just an hour. Dismayed and shocked, the crowd grew restless with every dismissal. Soon they were throwing placards, with 4s and 6s written on them, on the ground once the last Bangladesh batsman walked back to the pavilion.

Bangladesh put up an impressive performance in their first match against India when they went down fighting by 87 runs, chasing a big total of 370. They then beat Ireland in a low scoring thrilling match.

The previous lowest World Cup total by a Test playing nation was of Pakistan, who were all out for 74 against England in the 1992 World Cup.

Electing to bat, catastrophe struck the home team as the batsmen made a beeline to the pavilion.

Tamim Iqbal was dismissed in the first over of the match by Roach, caught by Sammy at second slip. Wickets then tumbled in quick succession. Junaid Siddique was the top scorer with 25. Mohammad Ashraful (11) was the other batsman to reach double figures.

“We never thought we would bat this poorly. We have been playing good cricket for the last 12 months, but I don’t know what happened today,” said Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.

“We have to sit and think about this and work out things. We have to come back and win two of the next three matches. The anger from the crowd is acceptable because of the way we have performed.”