Taijul Islam starred with his maiden One-Day International five-wicket haul to lead Bangladesh’s rout over the West Indies for a four-wicket win in Guyana.
With that, Bangladesh whitewashed West Indies in the three-match ODI series for a series win.
As was the case in the first two ODIs, Bangladesh opted to field once again and kept their opponents down to a below-par score. There just weren’t enough runs on the board despite captain Nicholas Pooran top-scoring with his first half-century for WI this series with a resolute 73.
However, he found little support at the other end as Taijul returned impressive figures of 5-28. Keacy Carty kept Pooran company with a handy 33, but regular wickets meant that West Indies struggled in all three ODIs on spin-friendly wickets.
In a chase of 179, Bangladesh lost Najmul Hossain Shanto early, but Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das stitched a 50-run stand for the second wicket.
Gudakesh Motie impressed with his career-best figures of 4-23 as Bangladesh had slipped to 116 for 5 at one stage. Just when West Indies thought they were in with a chance, Mahmudullah and Nurul Hasan added 31 runs for the sixth wicket to revive the chase.
Nurul and Mehidy Hasan, however, battled it out in the middle to eventually take Bangladesh home with scores of an unbeaten 32 and 16 respectively.
Despite losing Keemo Paul and Rovman Powell to injuries, West Indies put up a fight with the ball. But they just didn't have enough runs on the board with Bangladesh’s bowlers winning the battle. Bangladesh ended their tour on a high as the superior side in the 50-over format.
Tamim's performance as ODI captain is noteworthy considering Bangladesh's uncertainty under different leaders in the other two formats.