SYLHET, Bangladesh, Nov 9, CMC – West Indies claimed their second Test series of the year when their final Test match of 2026 against Bangladesh petered out into a tame draw here on Monday.
Faced with the humungous task of chasing down 369 for victory in a maximum of 78 overs after West Indies declared their second innings on 398 for six midway through the morning session, Bangladesh got up to 184 for four before the two captains agreed to a draw.
The result gave the visitors a 1-0 series win, the same margin of victory registered against Sri Lanka back in June. It also marked the first time in four years that the regional team won more than one Test series in a calendar year.
Beginning the day in complete control, West Indies essentially batted the hosts out of contention by adding 53 runs to their overnight score of 345 for three.
Kavem Hodge, who resumed the day on 140, would be disappointed that he only managed to score two more runs before pulling a short leg side delivery from spinner Nayeem Hasan straight into the hands of fine leg in the morning’s second over.
Justin Greaves made just nine before he missed a flick and was trapped lbw by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, while Shamar Joseph, promoted up the order as the West Indies went in search of fast runs, was dismissed by Hasan for one.
Joshua Bishop along with overnight batter Amir Jangoo added 28 runs in quick time, but the declaration came soon after with Jangoo unbeaten on 39 and Bishop on 20.
Left with just over an hour to bat before the lunch interval and needing to score at almost five runs an over to complete a memorable victory, Bangladesh never threatened in their run chase.
Tanzid Hasan and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto took their time in putting on 33 runs for the first wicket, before left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican claimed both wickets in quick succession.
He first had Hasan caught at deep midwicket for 24 and followed it up by trapping Shanto lbw for 14 to leave them 40 for two.
Towhid Hridoy and Mushfiqur Rahim put on 135 runs for the third wicket to allay any fears Bangladesh would be bowled out cheaply, but a draw was always on the cards.
Player-of-the-Match Hridoy followed up his unbeaten double century in the first innings with a knock of 82 before becoming Warrican’s 100th Test wicket and third of the innings, while Rahim – who became the first Bangladesh batter to score 7000 Test runs during his knock of 49, was bowled by a beauty from pacer Shamar Joseph to leave the score 183 for four.
Warrican, who took 3-44 after claiming four wickets in the first innings, was named Player-of-the-Series after finishing with 16 wickets in two matches,
But in what had become the norm during the series, bad light forced the players off the field with the decision to draw the match coming 15 minutes later.
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