Bangladesh beat West Indies 2-1 in the ODI series.
West Indies are on a losing spree, and the head coach, Daren Sammy, isn’t impressed. But making an exception, he admires how Akeal Hosein completed his to-do list in the ODI series against Bangladesh.
After the West Indies failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup in 2023, the team bid adieu to the left-arm spinner. With more than 55 wickets in the format, Akeal Hosein had to sit out for two years. He wasn’t the first-choice spinner when the squad was announced for the Bangladesh series. But coming in as a replacement player, Hosein had a good head on his shoulders.
The 32-year-old fulfilled his responsibilities and returned as the top wicket-taker for West Indies. He played two out of three matches but returned with six wickets, including a four-wicket haul in the series decider.
Impressed, Sammy didn’t hold back from lauding the orthodox spinner.
“Massive kudos to Akeal in the manner in which he came up. In a team where you have three left-arm spinners and a guy who’s been out for the last two years coming in and outshine them, yes there’s a place for competition,” Sammy said
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Adding to the disappointments for the team, Sammy also highlighted how the West Indies put up a poor show across the three games.
In the first ODI, the visitors failed to chase a 200-run target. The second ODI went down to the wire. After the scores were tied, a super over was used to decide the match’s result. Captain Shai Hope and Brandon King set a target of 11 runs, but it was Akeal Hosein who defended and also took the wicket of Soumya Sarkar. The third ODI was a repeat of the first match, only with a higher first-innings score posted by the hosts.
Coming to Bangladesh, Sammy had expected the tracks to work in favour of the spins. Undoubtedly, the legbreak googly bowler Rishad Hossain bagged the Player of the Series award with 12 wickets. The Windies wished to cause a similar damage, but unfortunately, no one stood up to be nearly as good as Hosein.
“That’s what you want in a team. You don’t want to select guys because they have nobody else to replace them. You want to select guys because they have competition, and what Akeal did in this series is definitely going to challenge some of the guys who’ve been there,” Sammy added.
Bangladesh will host the West Indies for another week for the upcoming T20Is. The first of three matches will begin on October 27. The next two games will also be played in a gap of two days, on October 29 and 31. All matches will be played in Chattogram.
Luckily for the West Indies, Akeal Hosein is part of the T20Is with even better stats than the 50-over format. He has 76 wickets from 77 innings at an average of 26.61, and a highly decent economy rate of seven.
Shai Hope (c), Alick Athanaze, Ackeem Auguste, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Amir Jangoo, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, and Ramon Simmonds.
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