West Indies reach 87 without loss at tea in Mirpur Test, moving closer to victory over Bangladesh
West Indies have moved closer to victory in the first Test of the series at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. Chasing a target of 170, the Caribbean side reached 87 without loss in 17.4 overs by the tea break on the fourth day.
Both openers have scored at a similar pace. Brandon King is batting on 40 from 62 balls and John Campbell on 39 from 45 balls at tea.
Earlier, Bangladesh were bowled out for 142 in their second innings. Bangladesh's batting collapsed against the spin of Jomel Warrican and Roston Chase. Including the first-innings lead, the target for West Indies stood at 170.
Bangladesh's collapse had begun earlier — the hosts were in trouble after losing 6 wickets for 53 runs. Tawhid Hridoy, Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Litton Das — three top-order batters — none of them reached double figures.
Sadman Islam and Nazmul Hossain Shanto crossed double figures but neither reached a fifty. What the recognised batters could not do, Naim Hasan did — his first Test fifty gave Bangladesh a total worth fighting for.
Rain interrupted play twice on the fourth day — once during Bangladesh's second innings and once during West Indies' chase. Play was stopped for 28 minutes when the Caribbean side had scored 63 runs.
Chasing 170, West Indies scored 8 without loss in 1 over before lunch was declared. In that very over, Mehedi Hasan Miraz appealed three times for lbw against Campbell, and the umpire turned down every appeal.
After lunch, Naim Hasan and Taijul Islam also appealed for lbw without success. Nazmul Hossain Shanto took two reviews, and the Caribbean openers survived both on umpire's call.
With a small total to defend and waiting for every wicket, Shanto's frustration at failing to get a wicket even with reviews was visible on his face. Taijul, Miraz and Naim bowled over after over, but Bangladesh had not taken a wicket by tea.
As usual, the Sher-e-Bangla floodlights were switched on at midday on the fourth day. Tea was scheduled for 2:10pm but was taken 3-4 minutes early.
