West Indies vs Bangladesh 2018
It was breezy out there, the sun was out somewhere but none knew where exactly. Pitch darkness hadn’t followed yet. But it would, one presumed, come to haunt the batting team.
The pitch, the experts had warned, was damp with a few spots and cracks in there. The impending dark clouds weren’t only hovering over the ground.
They had stormed over Bangladesh’s scorecard.
And bang. It was there for all to see. Bangladesh all out for 43. It took them 18.4 overs to surrender. You could do the math. The West Indies uprooted their tourists in flat 112 balls. It was like inviting a guest over and throwing him from the balcony.
A new high was reached by the West Indies by enforcing a plummeting low from touring Bangladeshis in the Caribbean.
Wasn’t warm hospitality the great Caribbean strength; this was, gloomy.
A battering had been served. This one had West Indies flavour.
On July 4, 2018, North Sound, Angitua produced only one familiar beat: that of the thumping triumph of the leather. Where was the willow hiding- you didn’t know? The Bangladesh batsmen- put into bat first by Holder- managed 4 ducks. Only 1 batsman managed to enter double-figures.
Liton Das, a hitherto unknown cricketing entity, did what Shakib, Mushfiqur, and Tamim failed to do; to hold on to this own against searing pace bowling by a West Indian trio- that seems- on current form, one of a kind.
It could be said, by the time the West Indies hurried back for an early drinks break, putting the curtains on Bangladesh’s unsavoury 43 all out- they might’ve toyed with a thought.
What if Liton Das wouldn’t have scored 25?
Would Bangladesh have even reached 43?
As a Bangladesh fan- you didn’t know what you were dealing with. Roach hounded them, nearly terrorized them, taking a 5-for, his second-ever against Bangladesh but the first of 2018.
There was Miguel Cummins too, the 27-year-0ld with a penchant for bowling short and bouncier than most others. He was threatening in his 3-for. Given his effort, the ball moving unplayably away from the right-hander’s upon pitching on good-length, his 3-for was a five-wicket haul kind of stuff.
It was special. It was cohesive and, importantly, with captain Jason Holder joining in the rattling of Bangladesh, it was a team effort.
While the Windies’ collective toppling down of Bangladesh produced a very heavy metal kind of sound, the clattering of wickets producing mayhem music, the minds of besotted Caribbean fans may have played Nirvana’s “Smells like team spirit.”
You felt so.
It was evident in each step a West Indies quick took as he bolstered ahead to run over a Bangladesh batsman.
The first day of a Test is always exciting.
But the West Indies shredding Bangladesh to thin sheets of paper inside the opening session was rather extraordinary. Did Jason Holder- 12 wickets against Sri Lanka earlier- see it coming?
Forget that, did this lead pacer- Shanon Gabriel, with 20 wickets from just 3 Tests- see it coming?
Who would’ve thought that the current spearhead of the Windies pace-attack wouldn’t even be required to break down the Bangladeshis?
For, quite simply, Roach and Cummins- 11 wickets and 3 wickets against Sri Lanka, respectively- had done the dismantling.
This, however, is going to be a testing series for West Indies quicks
Lest it is forgotten that only Day 1 of the first of the two Tests has been completed. 4 more gripping days remain. Then there are 5 more days of what can only be expected to be feisty competitive cricket.
The West Indies batting is fledgling and unpredictable, to say the least.
Agreed, Shane Dowrich, captain Holder, and the ever-reliable Kraigg Brathwaite have been the pick of the batsmen; but Hope and Chase have repeatedly floundered.
Should there be another repeat of familiar batting flailings, Bangladesh would know they aren’t going to have it easy.
For staring them would be mean, burly, wicket-clattering machines in the ferocious troika of Holder, Roach and, Gabriel. Add Miguel to the list and you have a deadly quartet.
These are rare adjectives that the West Indies have been able to warrant thanks to a superior show during highly-competitive 3 Tests against Sri Lanka.
The plaudits this once mighty team, renowned for producing a pace battery of the yesteryears, is generating should not be a one-off series wonder.
The West Indies have to remember. More than playing a Test series; they are representing a great, uncrushable, undeniable legacy.
Jason Holder may be leading his men into the ground.
But in mind of that avid, die-hard Windies spectator- who won’t move from the couch unless the 90th over in a drab, nearly empty Windies stadia has been bowled- it’s a sight where a new-age gladiator marshals his fighters into a cricketing colosseum.