DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – West Indies coach Ottis Gibson believes a positive result is still possible in the opening Test against Bangladesh, despite the run feast that has left a draw as the most likely outcome.
West Indies, winning the toss and batting, piled up 527 for four declared and Bangladesh have made a strong reply at 455 for six.
Already, 982 runs have been scored in the match over three days for the loss of only 10 wickets but Gibson said there was enough time for either side to steal a victory.
“There are still two more days to go and I would like to think that Bangladesh would think they can still win,” he said. “If they’ve targetted to draw the match then it would be a negative situation. They have played really well and I would like to think that would give them confidence that they could win the match.
“But we came here to play Test matches and win them. There are still two days ahead of us and they are still behind us, so who knows what will happen.” On a flat wicket conducive to batting, West Indies were propelled by Shiv Chanderpaul’s second career double century and hundreds from Denesh Ramdin and Kieran Powell, as they dominated the first day-and-a-half of the contest at the Shere Bangla Stadium.
West Indies called time on their innings on the stroke of tea on the second day but Bangladesh made a bold reply, to deny the Caribbean side any major success.
“When we looked at the way the pitch played during our innings, we recognised it was a flat pitch and our declaration was based on the belief that we would need more time at the back-end of the game to force a result,” said Gibson.
“We could make 600, but we would still need to have enough time to bowl them out twice and win the match. There is not much in the pitch for either pace or spin.”
He added: “We knew that the guys would have to work hard to get wickets – and if we wanted to get 20 wickets, we needed time more than runs to be able to bowl them out.” Naeem Islam completed his maiden Test century yesterday, a highly composed 108, to lead Bangladesh’s reply.
