Bangladesh off-spinner Shohag Gazi, playing only his second match, flighted the ball to opposite number Sunil Narine of West Indies, who tried to drive it through the off-side but did not connect well and the ball went at a brisk pace in the air towards cover. On another day the ball may have eluded Tamim Iqbal, but yesterday he leapt to his left and at full stretch pulled off a two-handed blinder to hammer the final nail in the Caribbean coffin.
Bangladesh, riding on a complete team performance and a century by newcomer Anamul Haque, won the second ODI of the five-match series against West Indies by their biggest victory margin yet — 160 runs. In doing so at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium, the Tigers have ensured that they maintained an all-win record in ODIs in Khulna, which can now be called the ‘Tigers’ den’ because of the strong record of the Tigers here, the name the national cricket team have taken from the Royal Bengal Tiger of the nearby Sundarban mangrove forest.
A more apt finish there could not have been — Shohag, the outlandishly impressive newcomer taking his third wicket to seal Bangladesh’s biggest win, and Tamim, who has in the past been derided for his sluggish fielding, pulling off the catch of the series so far. It was apt because this series is changing perceptions about what this team is capable of.
That is not to say that Bangladesh set out in this series to change perceptions; they merely continued on the level of performance set in the Asia Cup in March — a mode of operation that depends on every team member, superstar or not, pulling their weight in the same direction, and underscored by a mental resilience that was on ample display yesterday.
