Bangladesh bow out of semifinals losing to West Indies U19 by 3 wickets

West Indies youths have prevailed over Bangladesh by three wickets in the Under-19 World Cup semi-finals, leaving the hosts heart-broken.

The Caribbeans will play India in the final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.

Electing to bat first in Bangladesh's first-ever semi-final appearance in a world event, captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz (60) helped Bangladesh to recover from some early setback before a late fightback from the Caribbeans restricted the hosts to a modest 226.

West Indies were off to a flier in their chase before Miraz took out the openers. But their skipper Shimron Hetmyer (60 off 59 balls) kept the chase on track.

Bangladesh fought back with late dismissals, but Shamar Springer (62) dug deep and steered his team to the victory with 8 balls to spare on Thursday.

Bangladesh were wobbling on 113 for 5 in the 28th over when Miraz and Mohammad Saifuddin (36) revived the innings with an 85-run stand.

Singles and twos were hard to come by for the duo, but they kept the scoreboard ticking with timely boundaries. The skipper played a sensible knock, bringing up his half-century off 63 balls.

Some poor fielding and wayward bowling by the Caribbeans released the pressure as Bangladesh looked set to launch a late onslaught on 196 for 5 in 45 overs.

But Keemo Paul then took out both the batsmen in successive deliveries to trigger a collapse that saw Bangladesh lose five wickets for just 28 runs.

Paul returned 3 for 20 in 3 overs. Holder and Springer took two wickets each.

Gidron Pope made his intentions clear when he hammered a six and two fours in the first over of the chase before West Indies blazed to 44 in the first five overs.

The roaring crowd dropped dead silent when Saleh Ahmed Shawon dropped Pope on 23 off Mehedi Hasan Rana. That was followed by overthrows that compounded the hosts' woes.

Skipper Miraz then lifted his team by taking out openers Pope (38 off 25 balls) and Tevin Imlach (14) in successive overs.

Hetmyar and Keacy Carty (22) took advantage of poor Bangladesh bowling to put 62 on the scoreboard that took their team considerably closer to the target.

Shaifuddin sent Hetmyar packing after the West Indies skipper had cracked seven boundaries and a six in his match-winning knock.

But the 19-year-old pacer dropped Springer off his own bowling in the 34th over that proved costly later.

Despite double strike over by Shawon, Man-of-the-Match Springer kept his calm under pressure to take his team over the line in the penultimate over.

Shawon returned 3 for 37 in 10 overs while Miraz and Shaifuddin bagged two wickets apiece.