20-20 World Cup: Nicholas Pooran shines as West Indies keep their hopes alive with a 3-run win over Bangladesh

The defending champions West Indies are finally onboard after picking up a close 3-run win over Bangladesh. While the Kieron-Pollard team wasn’t at their best, for the moment, they will be happy to take up two points and keep their hopes alive in the 20-20 World Cup.

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The West Indies batting once again faltered, an issue they need to address as quickly as possible. Put into bat, West Indies batters had no answers to the Bangladesh bowlers. The big guns, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, departed for single-digit scores. Roston Chase scored 36 but at a strike rate way below 100. At one point, West Indies looked down and out but Nicholas Pooran played a brilliant knock of 40 off 22 balls to help West Indies post a competitive total of 142-7.

The target was not a big one but was defendable, especially on the slow surface of Sharjah. West Indies started well by removing Shakib Al Hasan, who was promoted to open for 9. Soon, Mohammad Naim too departed, leaving Bangladesh reeling at 29-2.

Every Bangladesh batter was struggling for timing and boundaries were hard to come by. While Liton Das hung round at one end, the wickets kept on tumbling from the other. Mahmudullah and Liton Das kept Bangladesh in the hunt for a while but the required rate kept on increasing. In the end, Bangladesh was left to chase 29 runs in the last three overs. On any normal wicket, this was achievable but not on the surface of Sharjah. Bangladesh eventually fell short by 3 runs.

The loss has also knocked them out of the tournament, while West Indies live to see another day.