West Indies comfortably stretch lead to 98 as Bangladesh toil before lunch
West Indies scored 121 runs in 30 overs on the fourth morning in Sylhet on Sunday, to reach lunch on 128 for two, a lead of 98.
Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz took a wicket each, but Bangladesh could not contain the visitors’ scoring.
Kavem Hodge was unbeaten on 30 off 44 balls at the break, with Kevin Wickham yet to score after seven deliveries. West Indies scored at more than four an over, an ODI-style rate that leaves Bangladesh’s bowlers facing a testing second session.
Miraz removed Brandon King for 61 off 84 balls, with 10 fours and a six, to leave West Indies on 119 for two after 31 overs. King tried to steer past slip after four dot balls and edged to Najmul Hossain Shanto, who took a diving catch at first slip. It ended a 34-run stand off 57 balls.
Hodge had survived on 16 when the umpire gave him out caught off Miraz. He stepped out and missed, the ball struck his pad before carrying to short leg, and a successful review saved him. West Indies were 112 for one after 29 overs.
Towhid Hridoy, whose unbeaten 242 gave Bangladesh their first-innings lead, put down King on 56 at short cover. King hit a delivery outside off stump hard off Taijul, and Hridoy got a hand to it without holding on. West Indies were 101 for one after 26 overs.
King reached fifty off 62 balls by driving Miraz for a boundary, then found another in the same over. It was his sixth Test half-century, after an unbeaten 81 in the second innings in Mirpur. West Indies were 95 for one after 23 overs, 65 ahead.
Taijul broke the opening stand in his first over after changing ends, trapping Joshua Da Silva lbw with a ball that pitched on the stumps and angled in. Da Silva made 36 off 70 balls and did not review. The stand was worth 85 off 129 balls, and West Indies were 86 for one after 22 overs.
It was Taijul’s first wicket after going wicketless in the second innings in Mirpur and the first innings in Sylhet. The left-arm spinner had also faced criticism for those returns, and he had been Bangladesh’s most threatening bowler for much of the morning.
The opening stand had reached fifty off 79 balls in the 13th over, with West Indies 53 without loss. King was on 33 off 37 with seven fours, and Da Silva on 19 off 42. Bangladesh’s pacers served up boundary balls throughout.
West Indies had moved ahead in the 11th over, reaching 37 without loss, with King on 25 off 32 balls and Da Silva on 11 off 35. They had added just 18 in the first seven overs, with Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud opening the bowling.
The visitors had resumed on seven without loss, still 23 behind, after the bad light that ended day three. Bangladesh had lost two reviews in Taskin’s first over of that evening, which left them with one to protect on a pitch still good for batting.