Taskin Ahmed made his debut in red ball international cricket in 2017. He was away from this format for some time. Even though eight years have passed, Taskin's number of Test matches has been few and far between. Playing his 16th Test in Antigua, Pfeiffer made his debut in white. Even though he took four wickets three times before, he did not touch the milestone of five wickets. The fast pacer led from the front to crush the Caribbean batting lineup on the fourth day of the match on Monday.
Bangladesh ended the third day with 269 runs for 9 wickets on Sunday. Naturally there was hope of a bit of a one-wicket fight today. But to everyone's surprise, captain Mehdi Hasan Miraj announced the innings. After taking the 'courageous' decision to declare an innings from 181 runs behind, Bangladesh also had a great time with the ball. Caribbean 6 batters were beaten by Taskin's pace. Taskin took two wickets in the first session and took 4 wickets in the second session.
Taskin's first victim was Caribbean opener Mikail Lewis who scored 97 in the first innings. He departed by catching Liton Das for 8 runs. After this opener's departure, Taskin brought back Kisi Curti. Mahmudul Hasan, standing at third slip, was caught by Joy and the Windies batsman departed for one run. After losing 3 wickets for 39 runs, Alik Athanez and Kavem Hodge tried to resist. Taskin also broke the 50-run partnership between the two, which became dangerous. Hodge was surprised by the extra bounce of the ball outside the off-stump and could not play properly. That's why he had to depart with a catch in the hands of Liton behind the wicket.
Then Justin Greaves returned with just 2 runs as Taskin's fourth victim. West Indies under pressure after losing 6 wickets before the hundred. Taskin's short length delivery on the middle stump line hit a light seam movement and Greaves blew it off stump. The first innings centurion got out in the second innings for 2 runs. Taskin tasted his first five-wicket haul in red-ball cricket in his 14th over. Shamar completed the first 5 wickets of his career by bowling Joseph with a great yorker.
Taskin took 4 wickets three times in the previous 15 matches in his 8-year career. He got the indescribable taste of 5 wickets in the 16th match. In the next over, Kemar Roach was caught by Mirage and picked up his 6th wicket. Altogether Taskin took 6 wickets with 64 runs in 14.1 overs. His fiery bowling ended the Caribbean's second innings at 152 runs.
