World Cup 2019: Bangladesh record 2nd highest successful run chase in tournament history
It was a historic day for Bangladesh cricket as they achieved the second highest successful run chase in World Cup history against West Indies at County Ground, Taunton on 17th June 2019. Bangladesh are only behind Ireland, who chased down 327 against England in the 2011 World Cup.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and decided to field first. The decision paid off as Mohammad Saifuddin got the dangerous wicket of Chris Gayle for 0.
Shai Hope and Evin Lewis then steadied the innings, adding 116 runs for the second wicket. Shimron Hetymer looked in devastating touch too, hitting a half-century off 25 balls.
Just as things were looking dangerous for Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman struck by dismissing Hetymer and Andre Russell in the same over to stem the run flow.
West Indies captain Jason Holder then came to the crease and hit a quickfire 33 off 15 balls. In the last few overs, the Bangladesh bowlers made a comeback and restricted West Indies to 321 for 8 in 50 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan was the pick of bowlers for Bangladesh with 2 for 54 in 8 overs.
The Bangladeshi openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar gave them a flying start, adding 52 runs for the opening wicket. Shakib then came to the crease and immediately put pressure on the West Indies bowlers.
The duo of Shakib and Tamim Iqbal added 69 runs for the second wicket.
Bangladesh lost the wicket of Mushfquir Rahim for 1. But that was when Shakib and Liton Das started smashing the West Indies bowlers all around the park. Shakib reached his fifty off 40 balls.
Both the batsmen made batting look easy with their superb stroke-play. Shakib reached his century off 83 balls while Liton Das completed his fifty off 43 balls.
The two added 189 unbeaten runs for the fourth wicket which led Bangladesh to a seven-wicket win with 51 balls to spare.
Shakib was awarded the man of the match for his all-round performance. He has been in sensational form in this year’s World Cup with both and bat. He has scored 384 runs from 4 matches with 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries so far, topping the run-scorers' list as of 17th June 2019.
Also read - World cup all time records
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