Bangladesh could not do what West Indies did in the last over.Image Credit source: Getty Images

If the first T20 match played between Bangladesh and West Indies had ended in 19-19 overs, the result would not have been what it actually was because of the 20th over. There is a lot of talk in cricket about how one ball or one over can change the course of a match, but this is not just a saying, it is a reality and the latest example of this was this match. In the first match of the T20 series played in Chattogram, West Indies defeated host Bangladesh by 16 runs and a major reason for this result proved to be the last over, in which a hat-trick of sixes was hit.

Captain Hope hit six sixes

In this match played on Monday, 27 October, West Indies batted first and scored 165 runs by taking 3 wickets in 20 overs. West Indies had a good start and had an opening partnership of 59 runs in 8.2 overs, but till the 13th over the score could reach only 82 runs, while 3 wickets had fallen. From here, captain Shay Hope and Rovman Powell batted brilliantly and made a partnership of 83 runs to take the team to a worthy score of 165 runs.

The last over proved to be very important in this innings of West Indies. Till the 19th over, the West Indies team had scored only 143 runs but in the 20th over, Shay Hope hit 3 sixes in a row. A total of 22 runs came from this over and its score reached 165 runs. Hope scored 46 runs in 28 balls and Powell scored 44 runs in 28 balls. Both of them hit 4 sixes each.

Bangladeshi batting was defeated, lost in the last over

On the other hand, Bangladesh's innings could not start properly and the wicket started falling. Within the powerplay itself, 4 wickets had fallen for 41 runs. Soon the score became 77 runs at the loss of 6 wickets in 12 overs. Defeat seemed certain but lower order batsmen including Tanzim Hasan Saqib showed some spirit and kept the match alive. Bangladesh lost its 9th wicket in the 18th over and the score was only 129 runs. But Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took the team to 146 runs by the 19th over.

This is where the last over proved to be the biggest difference. Actually, West Indies had scored only 143 runs till the 19th over, whereas Bangladesh, despite the fall of 9 wickets, had scored 146 runs i.e. 3 runs more than West Indies. But when it needed 20 runs in the last over, its bowlers were not capable enough with the bat to score a hat-trick of sixes and thus it got bundled out for only 149 runs and lost by 16 runs. Jason Holder and Jaden Seales took 3-3 wickets for West Indies.