Bangladesh took the lead in the series by winning the first ODI. The Tigers lost in the Super Over in the next match. However, West Indies did not get any attention in the third match. Mehedi Hasan Miraz's team won by a big margin of 179 runs with their bat and ball performance. With this victory, the hosts won the series 2-1.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first in Mirpur, scoring 296 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Soumya scored the highest score of 91 runs for the team. Saif also scored 80 runs. In reply, West Indies scored 117 runs in 30 overs, losing all their wickets in one ball.
Bangladesh went for a spin attack at both ends from the start today. Even though they had a big target ahead, the two Caribbean openers played with caution. Bangladesh had to wait until the fifth over to break the pair. Nasum gave Bangladesh their first breakthrough by trapping Alik Athanase at leg-before.
Nasum returned to his next over and found a wicket again. This time the left-arm spinner's victim was Akim Auguste. The top-order batsman could not open the run account after playing three balls.
Brendan King was trying to come out of the shell. Before he could settle down, Nasum returned this opener. He was bowled for 18 runs off 17 balls.
Shai Hope is the biggest pillar of the West Indies middle order. He single-handedly took the match out in the last match. Tanvir Islam dismissed this experienced batsman. He scored 4 runs in 16 balls. Sharefane Rutherford also followed in Hope's footsteps. The batsman, who had scored 12 runs, was caught by Miraz off Rishad.
After collapsing in the batting order at the beginning, the Caribbeans could not turn around. In the end, Justin Graves and Akil Hossain tried to reduce the margin of defeat. Akil, who came out at number 10, scored 27 runs. This is the highest score by any batsman in an innings.
Nasum Ahmed and Rishad Hossain took 3 wickets each for Bangladesh, while Miraj and Tanvir took 2 wickets each.
Earlier, Saif, who came out to bat, gave a good start by hitting two fours in the first over of the innings. Then Soumya Sarkar also appeared aggressively. The opening pair reached fifty in just 46 balls. Seeing that the spin was not working, Caribbean captain Shai Hope handed the ball to pace bowling all-rounder Justin Graves in the tenth over. However, this pacer could not take advantage either.
Soumya reached his personal fifty in 48 balls with a brilliant batting performance. This is his 14th fifty in ODIs, his sixth against the West Indies. After Soumya, another opener, Saif, has also reached the same milestone. He has played just 44 balls. This is his first fifty in ODIs.
Both openers were running towards centuries in a whirlwind batting. They seemed quite lively. But Bangladesh stumbled for the first time in the 26th over of the innings. Saif Hasan was caught by Justin Greaves at long on while hitting Roston Chase for a six in the second ball of the over. Bangladesh lost their first wicket after 176 runs. The opener returned to the dressing room after scoring 80 runs off 72 balls with 6 sixes.
Another opener, Soumya Sarkar, was on the verge of a century. He too was eventually caught out. He scored 91 runs off 86 balls.
After the departure of the two openers, the pace of runs slowed down a lot. Towhid Hridoy and Nazmul Hossain Shanto played several dot balls. Bangladesh came under pressure. Hridoy was out while playing a big shot to reduce the pressure. 28 runs came from his bat in 44 balls. Then Shanto returned before fifty. He scored 44 runs in 55 balls.
Mahidul Islam Ankon, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed failed in the middle order. Rishad, who batted well in the previous two matches, was promoted to six. However, this time he scored only 3 runs in 6 balls.
Nurul Hasan gave a good finish towards the end. He scored 16 runs unbeaten off 8 balls. Apart from that, Miraj scored 17 runs off 17 balls.