West Indies beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in Mirpur Test to take series lead

West Indies have beaten Bangladesh by eight wickets in the first Test in Mirpur to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. On the fourth day on Saturday, the visitors chased down a target of 170 in 35.1 overs, losing only two wickets.

Opener Brandon King laid the foundation for the win. He struck a career-best 81 not out off 115 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six. The visitors' aggressive intent was clear from the start of the chase.

Bangladesh were bowled out for just 142 in 48.4 overs in their second innings. Jomel Warrican, who had taken five wickets in the first innings, claimed 4 for 63 in the second and was named player of the match. Captain Roston Chase took 5 for 36, his fifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Bangladesh resumed the fourth day at 79 for 6, holding a lead of 106, but their hopes of setting a challenging target suffered an early blow when Jaker Ali edged Warrican to slip, where Chase took the catch. Jaker scored 22 off 34 balls, the second-highest score of the innings.

Nayeem Hasan held the Bangladesh innings together. He survived two dropped catches off Chase, on 21 and 29, and added 26 runs with Hasan Mahmud before Warrican trapped Mahmud lbw for eight.

Taijul Islam contributed eight in a 17-run partnership with Nayeem before Chase dismissed him to leave Bangladesh at 127 for 9. Nayeem then reached his maiden Test half-century off 87 balls with four boundaries, but his resistance ended when he tried to hit Chase over long-on and was caught by Joshua Bishop. He made 52 off 91 balls, while Shoriful Islam remained unbeaten on seven.

In reply, King and John Campbell took West Indies to 64 without loss in 14.1 overs before rain interrupted play for about an hour. After the restart they added another 23 runs before bad light and lightning forced a further stoppage of 45 minutes.

After the break, King was dropped on 70 by substitute fielder Ebadot Hossain off Taijul, and he made Bangladesh pay by finishing the match unbeaten. Campbell fell just short of a half-century, bowled by Shoriful for 49 off 55 balls, with six fours and a six.

West Indies captain Roston Chase said the team was determined to win the series and move up in the rankings. He said the team did not have a good start in the first innings and lost the lead, but remained determined to fight back and win the game, and that is what they did.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said his team failed to execute their plans. He said all three departments did not do well, especially in the field, adding that such things can happen sometimes but the intention and preparation were quite good. Going forward, he said, the team needs to look at those areas and work out how to do better in these conditions.

The victory continued a positive period for West Indies, who recently pushed India in a one-day series and shared a 2-2 draw in a T20 series against the world champions earlier this month.

The second Test will be played in Sylhet from November 5.