First clean sweep over Windies in ODIs, Shakib best player of the series

A comprehensive clean sweep over the Windies to begin the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League campaign. Tigers earned all 30 points from the series and now look forward to the Test series early next month. 

A rare incident where four of Tigers' senior campaigners - Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad - all scored fifty each to guide Bangladesh to a mammoth total of 297. Even rare occasion was all three - Tamim, Mushfiq and Riyad- scoring exactly 64.

Chasing down a mammoth 298 runs, a weakened Windies side struggled from the word go. They were hurt by double blows by Mustafizur Rahman early in their chase. And at one point they were 47 for 3. The southpaw sent the openers back to the pavilion within the first six overs. 

Offspinner Mehidy  Hasan Miraz came into the attack and bowled out a pretty amazing spell of 10-2-18-2. He didn't concede a single boundary all through his spell. He bagged Kyle Mayers and Jahmar Hamilton on his way. 

But the pick of the bowler was Saifuddin who missed out the first two matches due to lack of fitness. The allrounder picked up 3 wickets giving away 51 runs from his 9 overs. 

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan walked off the field due to a groin injury.  Shakib was bowling his 6th over when he collapsed almost immediately in the follow-through after delivering the fifth ball of the over. It seemed some sort of trouble in his groin. 
Shakib in the post-match presentation said, "My groin doesn't feel alright, but I have to see how I feel tomorrow morning on waking up."

Soumya bagged the wicket of Rovman Powell and to everyone's surprise, Najmul Hossain Shanto bowled an over and gave only four runs. 

Rovman Powell was the best batsman for Windies bagging 47 runs off 49 balls. Nkrumah Bonner played slowly and got 31 off 66 balls. 

Earlier, Tigers put a huge total of 297 runs on the board losing 6 wickets. Mahmudullah Riyad finished the innings on a high note. He remained unbeaten on 62 off only 42 deliveries.

Shakib AL Hasan's last international fifty came against Afghanistan in a T20I on this same venue back in September 2019. He was then banned a for a year and returned to cricket but somehow was struggling to get back to his usual batting form. 

Finally, Shakib bagged a fifty. His slow, hard-fought fifty came off 78 deliveries where he hit only 3 boundaries. 

Liton Kumar Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto failed to utilise their chances once again and got out quickly. 

Skipper Tamim Iqbal was happy with his team's performance. 

"The hunger that the boys showed, coming back into international cricket after such a long time, was appreciable. The guys had two tournaments, but the effort they put in was great," said Tamim. 

Mushfiqur Rahim was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant fifty and Shakib was adjudged the best player of the series on his international return. 

"I think a lot of credit goes to the coaching staff and the teammates. It made it easy when I played the first game [since his return]. I always knew that I needed some match time. After the first game, I got the confidence that I needed. As the series went on, I grew more in confidence," Shakib said.

Brief scores-
Bangladesh 297/6 (50 Overs) Mahmudullah Riyad 64*, Tamim Iqbal 64, Mushfiqur Rahim 64, Shakib Al Hasan 51, Alzarri Joseph 48/2

Windies 177/10 (44.2 Overs)

Rovman Powell 47, Nkrumah Bonner 31, Saifuddin 51/3, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 18/2, Mustafizur Rahman 24/2

Result: Bangladesh won by 120 runs

Man of the match: Mushfiqur Rahim

Man of the series: Shakib Al Hasan