Bangladesh and the West Indies played out a draw in the second and final Test of the series between the two teams at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The match started on November 5. The West Indies, who won the first match, took home the series by virtue of their 1-0 lead. Test cricket is perhaps the only sport in the world in which a game can go on for five days without a positive result emerging for both sides, and that is exactly what happened here.
The visitors batted first in this encounter and put up a decent total of 356 before being bowled out. Wicketkeeper-batter Amir Jangoo was the standout performer for the home team in this innings, scoring 133 off 212 balls. He used 13 boundaries and two sixes during his stay at the crease. Justin Greaves lent him ample support with a hefty 51, which included four boundaries. Kevin Wickham also scored a confident 61. Seamer Hasan Mahmud was the most successful bowler for the home team, returning with figures of 6-90.
Walking out to bat, Bangladesh saw a top-order collapse before Towhid Hridoy blew their opponents apart with an unbeaten 242. Unfortunately, he received no support from his teammates, and hence, Bangladesh had to fold their innings at 386, with a lead of just 30 runs. Hridoy’s epic innings came off 359 deliveries and consisted of 22 boundaries and 11 sixes. This was the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi player in a Test. Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican continued to chip away at the Bangladeshi batters, and ended with four wickets to his name.
When the West Indies batted in their second innings, it seemed as if they would never get bowled out. Brandon King (61), Kavem Hodge (142) and Wickham (78) made merry at the expense of the Bangladeshi bowlers, and took valuable time away from the match. The Windies knew that if they took the game right down to the wire on Day 5, they would be at an advantage, as they already had a 1-0 lead in the series. A draw would not hurt the Windies as much as it would hurt the Bangla Tigers, since the latter were fighting for a toehold in the series. Eventually, the West Indies declared their innings closed at 398-6. Bangladesh, in response, scored 184-4 before the umpires drew the stumps and declared the game a draw since all five days had come to an end, with no result possible.
Hridoy, carrying on from where he left off in the first innings, scored a brisk 84 off just 140 deliveries, taking the help of eight boundaries. His combined score of 324 runs across both innings made him the first Bangladeshi to be on the hallowed list of batters with the most runs in one Test. Although he is 35th on the overall list, no Bangladeshi in on it ahead of him. This draw hurt Bangladesh even though it helped Hridoy personally. As they had lost the first match, the home team ended up conceding the series 0-1 to the Windies. The Windies took the series when they last came to Bangladesh in 2021, and they repeated their feat five years later.
