Rovman Powell helps West Indies cruise past Bangladesh
Rovman Powell helped West Indies put together a big score at home and Bangladesh fell short in reply as the hosts claimed the series lead in the second T20I.
The West Indies got even contributions from a couple of players in their top-order, but it was the big-hitting of Rovman Powell late in the innings that ultimately proved the difference between the two teams. Chasing a target of 194 runs, Bangladesh got off to a bad start. Bangladesh needed to score at almost 10 runs an over to claim victory and veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan certainly played his part as he contributed an unbeaten 68.
The issue was he received little support from his teammates as wickets fell at regular intervals and Bangladesh fell some 35 runs short of victory.
It was the Bangladesh top-order that failed to fire, with openers Anamul Haque (3) and Liton Das (5) going cheaply and skipper Mahmudullah (11) not fairing much better after coming in at No.4.
A 55-run stand between Shakib and Afif Hossain (34) provided the visitors with a glimmer of hope, but West Indies' captain Nicholas Pooran rotated his bowlers well to ensure the victory target was never seriously threatened.
Earlier, Powell came to the crease in the 13th over with the score at 100/3 and produced some superb late-order hitting to help West Indies amass a massive score of 193/5 from their 20 overs.
The talented right-hander took 23 from one Shakib Al Hasan over and ended up with a total of six maximums from his entertaining 28-ball knock that netted an unbeaten 61.
With the ICC Men's T20 World Cup just months away, West Indies are quietly putting together a decent squad that may surprise a few in Australia.
Pooran is impressing in his role as captain, while the likes of Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd provide that late order hitting we have come accustomed to from strong West Indies sides over the years.
Their bowling attack is decent too, with Hayden Walsh's leg-spin providing the perfect support act to a bevy of quicks that mix their pace up well.
If it all comes together at the T20 World Cup then there is no reason why the Caribbean side can't feature at the pointy end of the tournament.