King's Unbeaten 81 Powers West Indies to Eight-Wicket Win Over Bangladesh in Mirpur Test

West Indies have won the Mirpur Test by eight wickets. After surrendering meekly to Bangladesh's spinners in the first innings, the Caribbean side handled that same spin attack with authority in the second innings to win with a day to spare.

Brandon King played an unbeaten innings of 81 on the way to victory, while John Campbell made 49. For Bangladesh, pacers Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud took one wicket each in the second innings.

The win puts West Indies 1-0 ahead in the two-match Test series.

Umpiring by the two on-field umpires, Nitin Menon of India and Sam Nogajski of Australia, was controversial in the match. The pair turned down four leg-before appeals; replays later showed the ball would have hit the stumps on all four occasions, but the Caribbean batters survived on umpire's call.

Bangladesh's batting line-up had collapsed against the spin of Roston Chase and Jomel Warrican, but riding on King and Campbell, the visitors crossed the 170-run target.

Chasing 170, West Indies were confident from the start. King and Campbell added 112 runs for the opening wicket, comfortably handling the spin of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam.

Shoriful Islam finally broke the stand by bowling Campbell with the fifth ball of the 21st over. The opener returned having made 49 off 55 balls.

Chanderpaul then fell to Hasan Mahmud for just 1 run, but it created no obstacle on the path to victory. With Kavem Hodge alongside him, King completed the rest easily, and the Caribbean side reached the target with eight wickets in hand.

Earlier, Bangladesh had resumed on the fourth morning at 79 for six, hoping to add to the previous day's 106-run lead, but that hope took an early blow.

Warrican dismissed Jaker Ali Anik for 22 to break his 31-run stand with Naim Hasan. Hasan Mahmud then also fell to Warrican; his stand with Naim produced 26 runs.

Naim then tried to build the total through small stands with Taijul Islam and Shoriful Islam, adding 17 with Taijul and 15 with Shoriful. He was finally Roston Chase's fifth victim, after a fighting innings of 52 — his first half-century in Test cricket and Bangladesh's highest score in the second innings. It was on Naim's batting that the hosts reached 142.

Roston Chase was West Indies' most successful bowler with five wickets, while Jomel Warrican took four.

In the first innings, Bangladesh had scored 272 on Sadman Islam's century of 105. In reply, disciplined bowling by Bangladesh's spinners bowled West Indies out for 245, giving the hosts a 27-run first-innings lead. Naim Hasan took four wickets for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, however, could not use that lead because of their second-innings batting collapse. Despite Naim's fighting fifty, the hosts stopped at 142, leaving West Indies a target of only 170, which the Caribbean side crossed comfortably for a commanding win in Mirpur.