Windies overpower Tigers

Sheldon Cottrell bagged four wickets while Shai Hope hammered 55 in 23 balls as West Indies easily beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in the first T20 in Sylhet on Monday.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh were restricted to 129 only despite a wonderful half century by skipper Shakib Al Hasan.

Shakib's 61 runs came in just 43 balls, the batsman hitting eight fours and two sixes.

Number seven batsman Ariful Haque was the second highest scorer with 17 while Mahmudullah added 12 and the rest eight batsmen had a single digit to their names.

Keemo Paul bagged two wickets while Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen and Oshane Thomas claimed one apiece.

The visitors started their chase aggressively right from the beginning, Evin Lewis (18) and Hope made 51 in just 3.1 overs before Mohammad Saifuddin removed the former.

Hope powered three fours and six sixes to almost win the game for the Windies team before falling victim to Mahmudullah, leaving Nicholas Pooran and Keemo Paul to complete the formalities.

Pooran's 23 came in 17 balls while Paul hammered 28 in just 14 balls, courtesy of a four and three sixes.

The Tigers had won the Test series 2-0 and the ODI 2-1, but this loss puts them under pressure probably for the first time in this tour.

But they are the team in form and the fans have no reason to believe that they can overturn this into a series win.

The next two matches will be played on 20 and 22 December.