west indies 325 beats in 6 (Jangoo 104*, Carty 95, Rishad 2-69) Bangladesh 321 for 5 with 4 wickets (Mahmudullah 84*, Mehidy 77, Soumya 73, Jaker 62*, A Joseph 2-43).
Brandon King picked up where he left off in the second ODI, smashing two fours and a six against Nasum Ahmed in the second over of the chase. However, his innings was cut short in the same over due to a mix-up with his opening partner Alick Athanaze over a non-existent run. Athanaze himself did not last long and was hampered by Nasum in the next over.
But Carty hit a steady 24 at the other end. Afif dropped him on 22 before Carty chased down the Bangladesh spinner in the middle overs. He hit Rishad Hossain for consecutive fours in the 18th over and Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a six and a four in the 21st over. Janoo hit Nasum for 34 and lofted Afif for 6 in a short period.
It was in the 34th over that perhaps Bangladesh lost the match. Janoo misplaced the ball from Rishad but saw substitute defender Parvez Hossain Emon throw away the chance as he ran back on mid-off. Rishad dismissed Carty’s next ball and Soumya took a low catch at point, but Janoo’s miss came back to haunt them.
Soon after Roston Chase was dismissed, Janoo hit Mehidy for his second six, before Motie and Janoo hit Mahmud for a six each in the 43rd over. They hit four each in the next over bowled by Taskin before the pair completed the chase.
Considering the way they batted, the day might have belonged to Bangladesh. After a disastrous start, reduced to 9 for 2 by losing both Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das in the third over, Soumya and Mehidy revived the innings with a 136-run stand for the third wicket. Alzarri Joseph hurried Tanzid with a bouncer that pulled the top edge of the left-hander. Litton’s horror run in ODIs continued when he edged King wide at first slip.
Mehidy was positive from the start and hit five boundaries in the powerplay. Soumya, who had been down indiscriminately, opened up after the power play. He hit a six with an uppercut against Romario Shepherd and followed up with consecutive sixes over Chase and Motie.
Six overs after Soumya was dismissed, Mehidy, bowling at the right spot for Rutherford, found himself short of the striker’s end as he fell on 77 off 73 balls. Rutherford caught Afif Hossain at the mid-wicket boundary for 15 and Bangladesh again lost two wickets in quick succession.
However, Jaker and Mahmudullah dominated the final overs. After adding 96 in the first ODI, he did better this time. After Jaker hit the first two fours, Mahmudullah sent Motie crashing to the ground for the first six before hitting Chase for the second long over.
Jaker joined the party when he put Shepherd behind cover and Mahmudullah dragged Rutherford over square leg outside off for a six. Bangladesh scored 59 runs in the last four overs to take their total to over 320, but it was not enough on the day.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
