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DHAKA: West Indies captain Darren Sammy said on Wednesday he was confident his team will come back strongly in the one-day series after opening the Bangladesh tour with a close defeat.
The tourists lost the one-off Twenty20 international by three wickets in a thrilling finish in Dhaka on Tuesday, with Bangladesh's new captain Mushfiqur Rahim smashing a six off the penultimate ball.
“This is the start of the tour, so we will regroup and come back,” Sammy said ahead of the first one-dayer in Dhaka on Thursday.
“We have three one-dayers and two Test matches, so there is a lot to play for. We will look at the areas where we went wrong and lift our game for the upcoming matches.”
Sammy was pleased with the form of Marlon Samuels who raised visions of a West Indies victory with a good all-round show before man-of-the-match Rahim (41 not out) snatched the game away from them.
Samuels top-scored with a fighting 58, his best in Twenty20 internationals, to help his side post 132-8 and then dismissed key batsmen Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful with his off-spin to reduce the hosts to 71-5.
“It was good to see the way Marlon performed. He is playing very well at the moment and is doing his bit with the bat and ball,” said Sammy.
“Hats off to Mushfiqur. We know Bangladesh are a good team and they held their nerve better than we did.”
Rahim lauded his team for delivering under pressure in his first match as captain.
“This was my first match as captain and I couldn't have asked for more. It was a team effort and I'm really happy,” he said.
“In the last over, I had the confidence that if I got the ball in my zone then I could hit it for a four or six. Fortunately, that is what happened.”
The West Indies are likely to name leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for the one-day series to be played on spin-friendly tracks.
The hosts will be without vice-captain Mohammad Mahmudullah, who is suffering from a viral fever.
Bangladesh have won just three of their 17 one-day internationals against the West Indies.
West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons.
Bangladesh (from): Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Alok Kapali, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shahriar Nafees, Shuvagoto Hom.
