Hosts West Indies tightened the grip on the Antigua Test on the opening day after Bangladesh batted poorly in the first innings on Thursday.
The opening day was a miserable day for the Tigers as they failed to bat well and also failed to field in a way they needed most.
In reply to Bangladesh’s paltry first innings of 103 runs, the Windies made 95 for two in 48 overs to end day one. Kraigg Brathwaite and Nkrumah Bonner remained unbeaten for 42 and 12 respectively.
Bangladeshi pacers bowled lion-heartedly but the fielders failed them missing three catches.
In the first 15 overs, West Indies scored only 15 runs. They started their first innings on a cautious note on the brown wicket that has plenty of help for the pacers. They lost the first wicket in 44 runs Mustafizur Rahman, who was playing his first Test after a long gap, scalped the wicket of John Campbell for 24.
Raymon Reifer was the second Windies man to fall. Ebadot Hossain took the second wicket.
Earlier, the hosts won the toss and bowled first. They scalped three wickets inside 31 runs, and six wickets inside the first session.
Six Bangladeshi batters failed to add anything to their names. It was the first time in cricket’s history when a team suffered six ducks in two consecutive Tests. Bangladesh’s last six ducks came against Sri Lanka last month at home. But centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das had concealed the batting failure.
But this time around, Shakib Al Hasan was the only Bangladeshi batter to show some resistance. He made 51. Apart from Shakib, Tamim Iqbal (29) and Liton Das (12) were the only other batters to have scored a double-digit innings.
“I have no explanation of this batting display,” Shakib, the Bangladesh captain said in the post-day briefing. “I don’t have anything to say about this batting. I’m not sure anyone in our team has any explanation.”
While scoring 29, Tamim became the second Bangladeshi batter after Mushfiqur Rahim to have scored 5000 runs in Tests.
Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph bagged three wickets each for the hosts while Kemar Roach and Kyle Mayers took two wickets each.
After a dismal show on the opening day, Bangladesh have already in trouble in this Test. The Tigers need to demonstrate something big to come out of this situation in Antigua.
Source: United News of Bangladesh