PACEMAN Tino Best grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul to help the West Indies beat Bangladesh by 77 runs in the first Test in an exciting fifth day finish at Shere Bangla stadium on Saturday.
The 31-year-old paceman took three wickets in the post lunch session and added another in the final session, finishing with 5-24 to rout Bangladesh for a paltry 167 after they were set a 245-run target.
Best dismissed Shahriar Nafees (23), Shakib Al Hasan (two) and Mushfiqur Rahim (16) in quick succession and then had Bangladesh’s top scorer Mohammad Mahmudullah (29) to give his team a 1-0 lead in the two- Test series.
The second and final Test will be played in Khulna from November 21.
Bangladesh, seeking their second win at home and fourth overall in Test cricket, lost openers Tamim Iqbal (five) and Junaid Siddique (20) in a disappointing start.
Siddiqui became Best’s first victim in the innings before lunch.
But worse was to come for the Tigers as Best caught Nafees miscuing a pull off his own bowling and in his next over had Bangladesh’s best batsman Shakib Al Hasan caught behind.
Rahim looked good initially but Best returned for a second spell to trap the Bangladeshi skipper in front of the wicket to derail Bangladesh to 85-5.
Sixteen runs later, Veerasammy Permaul had Naeem Islam lbw after the first innings century maker had made only 26. Permaul also dismissed Nasir Hossain for 21 and Sohag Gazi (19) to finish with 3-32 on his debut.
It was another disappointing batting display by the home team which ended in their 64th defeat in 74 Tests since gaining Test status in 2000 — a matter of great criticism in the cricketing world.
West Indian captain Darren Sammy heaped praise on his bowlers.
“Bangladesh played really well, but credit must go to our bowlers and batsmen. It turned out to be a very good wicket after 1000 runs in the first two innings, but there was something in the final stages of the match,” said Sammy.
“The team has a whole new belief and we are trying to get more consistent in Tests. We are looking to improve with every game.” Sammy’s Bangladesh counterpart, meanwhile, bemoaned a lack of partnerships in his team’s second innings.
“In this Test, we competed well. Test cricket is the biggest challenge and we don’t play that many, but we really did well in the first innings, but lack of partnerships in the second let us down,” said Rahim.
“We are 1-0 down but we have lots of positives from this Test and hopefully we can come back hard.” Earlier, Bangladesh were put on course for a win by offspinner Gazi whose 6-74 are the best figures by a home bowler on debut.
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