Bangladesh beats West Indies by 7 runs in 1st T20

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Bangladesh opened its three-match Twenty20 series against West Indies with a tight seven-run win on Sunday.

At 61-7 in the 12th over the West Indies looked a long-shot to get close to Bangladesh’s 147-6 off 20 overs but some lusty hitting from captain Rovman Powell got the hosts within 10 runs from the final over to steal victory.

But Bangladesh seamer Hasan Mahmud (2-18) produced a stunning last over and dismissed Powell (60 off 35 balls) and two balls later ended the match by bowling Alzarri Joseph with the final delivery to leave the West Indies reply at 140 all out.

Mahedi Hasan took 4-13 from four overs for the tourists, including four of the West Indies’ top five batters.

Earlier, opener Soumya Sarkar top-scored for Bangladesh with a breezy 43 from 32 balls, with two boundaries and three sixes.

Handy lower-order batting contributions from Jaker Ali (27 from 27 balls), Shamim Hossain (27 from 13 balls) and Mahedi Hasan (26 not out from 24 balls) lifted Bangladesh to 147-6 from its 20 overs.

Akeal Hossein (2-13) and Obed McCoy (2-30) both took two wickets each for the West Indies after it had won the coin toss and elected to field.

The second match is on Wednesday and the third match is on Friday with all three games to be played at Kingstown, St. Vincent.

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket