Tamim-Soumya stand after Mashrafe strikes earn Bangladesh 8-wicket win over West Indies

A steady opening stand by half-centurions Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar has fired Bangladesh to a commanding eight-wicket win over the West Indies in the Tigers’ tri-nation series opener in Ireland.

The openers laid a solid platform with a 144-run partnership, the highest opening stand for Bangladesh overseas, after skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza helped them restrict the Caribbeans to 261 with late but crucial strikes at Dublin on Tuesday.

Besides Tamim and Soumya, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, aided by Mushfiqur Rahim, made a half-century before hitting the winning boundary with five overs to spare.

Chasing 262 for the win, Tamim was failing to find gaps and timing and it took him 30 balls to score first six runs. 

The hard-hitting opener, however, did not give in to pressure as the required rate was going. Soumya, at the other end, relieved the pressure off his partner with some crisp shots. 

Bangladesh were 38 without loss in the first 10 overs. But after Tamim caught up with successive boundaries off Kremer Roach in the PowerPlay following Soumya’s fluent beginning, the Tigers scored 69 in the next 10 overs without giving away a wicket.

Soumya, who had earned his spot in the team as Tamim’s partner with a double century and a century in the recent Dhaka Premier League, got to his eighth ODI half-century off 47 balls.

The stand broke when Soumya was caught at deep mid-wicket after hitting a Roston Chase half-tracker to be dismissed for 73 off 68.

When Shannon Gabriel dismissed Tamim at 80 off 116, Bangladesh were only 65 runs away from victory with more than 13 overs to spare and Shakib at the other end.

The all-rounder, who had just recovered from injury, was quick to grab get another feather in his cap with his 41st half-century.

Shakib made 61 off as many balls while Mushfiqur scored 32 off 25 to take the Tigers to the facile victory in the 45th over.

Earlier in the day, Mashrafe helped Bangladesh stage a late comeback to foil the West Indies’ charge for a massive total powered by a century by Shai Hope and half-century by his partner Roston Chase.

When the West Indies won the toss and opted to bat first, Bangladesh were hoping for a good start with the ball as the record-breaking duo, Hope and John Campbell, had been separated by a back injury of the latter before the match started.

Hope, who scored 170 in a record 365 opening partnership with Campbell in the last match against Ireland, started steadily again with his new partner Sunil Ambris.

The openers were rarely troubled in an 89-run partnership before Mashrafe brought spinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib to the attack. Miraz had Ambris caught in the 17th over and Shakib struck in the next over to take out Darren Bravo.

Hope lost his partner Chase when Mashrafe broke the 115-run stand by taking out the latter in the 41st over after bowling a tight first spell.

The opener, with a total of 363 runs in his last three innings against the Tigers, cantered to 109 off 132 with 11 boundaries and one six until becoming the second victim of Mashrafe in his next over.

Mashrafe let his counterpart Jason Holder play only two balls to crank up the pressure on the West Indies, who lost the final seven wickets for 56 runs.

Mohammad Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman contributed to the freefall of West Indies with two wickets apiece by giving 64 runs off the last 10 overs.

Mustafizur proved expensive as he bled 84 runs in his 10 overs, but finally the quick Mashrafe strikes and the batsmen gave Bangladesh a vital confident start in the series ahead of the World Cup.

Brief scores: West Indies 261/9 in 50 overs (Shai Hope 109, Roston Chase 51; Mashrafe Mortaza 3-49) were beaten by Bangladesh 264/2 in 45 overs (Tamim Iqbal 80, Soumya Sarkar 73; Roston Chase 1-51) by eight wickets.

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