Bangladesh took control of the match in the first innings of the Antigua Test, breaking the resistance of Mikael Lewis and Alik Athanez. The duo's 140-run stand was broken to the chagrin of the nervous nineties. Despite losing seven wickets for 261 runs, West Indies reached 450 at number 9 in the partnership of Kemar Roach and Justin Greaves. They also added 140 runs. Bangladesh captain Mehdi Hasan Miraj said that the match was lost in the eighth wicket pair.
After losing by 201 runs, Miraj said on the award stage, 'I think we bowled well. Taskin in particular took six wickets. In fact, they made a very good pair (in the first innings). After the fall of 7 wickets (for 261 runs) the pair made 140 runs. I think the game is over there.'
Bangladesh team is suffering from batting. This was the main reason behind the failure in four consecutive Tests against India and South Africa after winning the two-match Test series against Pakistan. The situation did not change in Antigua Test against West Indies. Bangladesh won the toss and sent the Caribbean to bat. They picked up 450 runs in the first innings. Bangladesh scored 269 runs for 9 wickets and declared the innings and stopped the Caribbeans for 152 runs. Taskin took 6 wickets for 64 runs. However, being behind by 181 runs in the first innings, Bangladesh were given a target of 334 runs to win. But due to the old disease, the visitors were bowled out for 132 runs.
Regarding the batting failure, Miraj said, 'Actually, we did not bat well in this match. I think we did something wrong. It may be.'
After failure, it is customary for the captain to give a message of hope for the next match. Mirage did the same after losing the Antigua Test, 'We want to come back strong in the next match. We know what we did wrong and we need to come back stronger. We will talk among ourselves.'
