Desk report
Soumya Sarkar could have returned in the first over of the innings. Alzarri Joseph’s fourth ball was swinging slightly and was going outside. But before it could settle on the wicket, Soumya’s drive hit the edge of the bat and went into the hands of Brendan King, who was at slip. King could not take that easy catch. Soumya did not let the ‘life’ he got at the beginning go in vain. He played an innings of 73 runs off 73 balls when the team needed it.
Bangladesh was in danger from the beginning to avoid a whitewash in the third ODI of the series in St. Kitts today. They lost the toss and opted to bat and lost 2 wickets for 9 runs. Then, Soumya and Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s fight for the third wicket turned Bangladesh around. Later, Mahmudullah and Zaker Ali Anik’s partnership for the sixth wicket. Bangladesh also made 321 runs for 5 wickets in four fifties. This is Bangladesh’s highest score in ODIs on West Indies soil. And the second highest combined for all venues.
Alzarri made up for his failure to get Soumya back at the start by bowling his second over. Openers Tanjid Hasan Tamim and Liton Das were dismissed in the space of three balls. Tanjid (0) was caught while trying to pull. Two balls later, Liton (0) was caught at slip while trying to hit the ball outside off. This time, King, who was standing at slip, made no mistake. 2, 4 and 0—these are Liton’s runs in the Windies series. He has not been able to touch double figures in his last 7 innings in ODIs.
Then came the Soumya-Miraj partnership. After settling down on the wicket, the two increased the run rate by hitting boundaries in gaps. The score in Bangladesh’s powerplay stood at—46/2. Like Soumya, Miraj also missed out on a century. A misunderstanding with Afif Hossain (15) while taking runs, the Bangladesh captain’s 78-run innings, which included 8 fours and 2 sixes, was stopped by a direct hit from Sherfan Rutherford.
Mahmudullah and Zaker took Bangladesh to the run hill. The two made an unbroken partnership of 150 runs off 117 balls. Mahmudullah was unbeaten on 84 and Zaker on 62.
