Chasing 231 with more than four sessions to play, Bangladesh were bowled out for 213 with less than 10-minutes to go on the penultimate day of the match. Rahkeem Cornwall was the hero of the piece taking 4-105 and nine-wickets in the match.
Brathwaite, who captained the team following the withdrawal of Jason Holder and several senior team members, said the victory was due to a collective effort from a group of players, who were not expected to win.
“People wrote us off. But we kept it simple, enjoyed it, and we proved them wrong,” said the proud captain afterwards.
“I would say it's a team effort. The one-day team not doing well, but we wanted to here. We had a plan, enjoyed it, and happy to win the series.”
The Barbadian opener, who had scores of 47 and 6 in the match, perhaps his biggest contribution with the ball taking 3 for 25 including the openers Tamim Iqbal for 50 and Soumya Sarkar, who enjoyed an opening stand of 59 that threatened to wrest the match from the West Indies.
“I wasn't surprised with my wickets of the openers,” he said, “wanted to come on, keep it tight. Nice, it's a series win in Asia since 2012.”
He expressed his gratitude for being selected to lead the team and how the players responded to his leadership.
“Very thankful to God for the opportunity to captain West Indies. (The) boys stuck to their plans, they were very disciplined. Very proud of the boys. Means everything back home. Cricket means everything to us. People will be proud,” he said.
Bonner’s score of 38 was the top score in the West Indies’ second inning of 117. Those runs proved to be crucial in helping the Caribbean men set a target of 231 that was just good enough for the West Indies to pull off a 17-run win.
Over the two matches, Bonner accumulated 231 runs at an average of 57.75 during the series where he scored Test bests of 86 and 90. He was also involved in match-changing partnerships for the West Indies team that was supposed to be without their best players on tour.
The 31-year-old Jamaica said sound advice helped him achieve success.
“[I] spoke to seniors and knew you have to be patient while batting here,” he said after receiving his award. “After all it’s Test cricket, you need to put a price on your wicket.”
He said it was not that difficult adjusting to the conditions in Bangladesh.
"It's quite similar to Caribbean conditions,” he said. “It spins at home too, just a little lower here.”
The West Indies lost three wickets for 29 runs after lunch before the Jamaican middle-order batsman got involved in two partnerships that rescued the visitors from a greater implosion.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, opening pair of Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell put on an opening stand of 66 when Campbell got out lbw after missing a fullish delivery from Taijul Islam that he tried to sweep.
The West Indies went to lunch at 84 for 1 with Brathwaite on 36 and Shayne Moseley on six.
On the resumption, the West Indies had added three runs to their lunch-time score when Moseley was bowled by Abu Jayad for seven.
Eight overs later after the visitors had crept to 104, the West Indies captain fell three runs short of another Test 50 when he edged a Soumya Sarkar delivery and was caught at slip by Najmul Hossain Shanto for 47.
First Test hero, Kyle Mayers was next to go when he edged Jayad to Sharkar at slip and was out for five leaving the West Indies in a spot of bother at 116 for 4.
Bonner, who has so far faced 173 deliveries, and Jermaine Blackwood repaired some of the damage with a partnership of 62. However, Blackwood was dismissed for 28 when he was too early on a shot from a delivery from Taijul, who dived to his right to take the return catch.
Bonner and Da Silva, who is not out on 22, managed to add 45 for the sixth wicket without further loss by the close of play.
Jayad has so far taken 2 for 46 while Taijul has taken 2 for 64.
The West Indies won the first Test in Chattogram by three wickets.
Cornwall, who had nine wickets in the match, took 4 for 105 as Bangladesh, chasing 231 for victory after bowling the West Indies out for 117, made 213 all out.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite 3 for 25 and Jomel Warrican 3 for 47 also played crucial roles as the Caribbean claimed their first away series win since 2017 and only their third in almost a decade.
It was Brathwaite who got the wickets of Soumya Sarkar for 13 after he and Tamim Iqbal, who had raced to a 46-ball 50, that took a sizeable chunk out of the intended target. The pair put on 59 for the opening stand when Sarkar edged Brathwaite onto the wicketkeeper’s gloves before popping forcing Cornwall to dive forward at slip to complete the catch.
He then had Iqbal caught at short cover for 50 that included nine fours and Bangladesh were 70 for 2.
Wickets fell steadily after that with Cornwall claiming the wickets of Shanto (11), Mohammed Mithun for 10, the dangerous Liton Das for 22 and Taijul Islam for 8.
Warrican claimed the valuable wicket Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the last man out, for 31, to add to the wickets of Mominul Haque, who made 26 and Mishfiqur Rahim for 13.
Brathwaite got the ninth Bangladeshi wicket to fall and his third of the match when he trapped Nayeem Hasan lbw for 14.
Had it not been for the match-winning performance of its bowlers, the West Indies might have been hard-pressed to achieve victory given their woes with the bat earlier in the day.
Resuming from their overnight score of 41 for 3, a lead of 154, the West Indies struggled to press home their hard-earned advantage.
Bonner, who was on eight overnight, batted resolutely for his top score of 38, hemmed in by tight bowling and aggressive fields that took away his favoured scoring areas. However, even as he fought, wickets fell steadily at the other end the West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 76 runs.
Joshua Da Silva was the only other West Indies batsman on the day to make double figures, getting 20 before he became one of Islam’s four wickets. The spinner conceded a miserly 36 runs from the 21 overs he bowled.
Nayeem Hasan, who bowled Bonner shortly after lunch, took 3 for 34 and Abu Jayed 2 for 32.
In what was another embarrassing display of batting, the West Indies, who won the toss and opted to bat, were bowled out for 148 in 43.4 overs. The visitors lost their first five wickets for 41 runs midway the 18th over and only managed to cross the hundred-run mark thanks to a 32-run ninth-wicket stand between Rovman Powell and Alzarri Joseph, who took the score from 88 for 8 to 120 for 9.
Powell, who also put on 28 for the last wicket with Akeal Hosein who made 12, fought hard for his top-score of 41 from 66 balls before being the last man out.
Meanwhile, amid the disaster of the top order batting, debutant Kjorn Ottley looked good during his brief stay at the crease scoring 24 of the West Indies 36 runs before becoming the second wicket to fall. Nkrumah Bonner scored 20 in a vain attempt to hold the middle order together as the West Indies were powerless in their efforts to keep the Bangladeshi bowling at bay.
“Obviously, it was a little disappointing for us. A much better wicket for us, and we needed to put a lot more runs on the board. I think the spinners were always going to be challenging. We keep losing wickets in clusters, and we can't have partnerships going. That's been our downfall,” said Captain Jason Mohammed following the carnage.
Mehidy Hasan took 4 for 25 with his right-arm off-breaks and there were two wickets each for Shakib al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh made light work of the chase easing to 149 for 3 from just 33.2 overs.
Captain Tamim Iqbal scored an even 50 while Shakib remained unbeaten on 43 at the end.
Raymon Reifer was the best of the Windies bowlers with 1 for 18 from the five overs he bowled. Akeal Hosein and Jason Mohammed shared the other two wickets between them.
Mohammed tried to take some positives from the humiliation.
“There's a little bit of positives -- Ottley played well in his debut game. Rovman did well to get us a decent total. Akeal bowled well again."
Sent in to bat, the West Indies were bowled out for 122 in 32.2 overs as Man of the Match Shakib Al Hasan took remarkable figures of 4 for 8 from 7.2 overs in his return to cricket from a one-year ban for failing to report corruption.
Hasan Mahmud provided strong support as he took 3 for 28 from six overs. However, the West Indies lost their first two wickets to Mustafizur Rahman who conceded 20 runs from the six overs he bowled.
Kyle Mayers was the best of the West Indies batsmen with 40 runs from the 56 balls he faced. He and Rovman Powell produced the most useful partnership of the West Indies innings with a stand of 59 for the sixth wicket.
However, once Powell got out in the 30th over with the score at 115, the West Indies lost their remaining five wickets for just seven runs.
"It was a bit disappointing for us. The wicket wasn't the easiest one for us, but we didn't have enough partnerships. Even the ones that got starts, didn't convert that for us. It was a great partnership [between Powell and Mayers] but we have to work with the positives,” said Windies captain Jason Mohammed.
It's a difficult place to come and play cricket. The wicket was turning and slow, but we have to put things in place for the next game.”
Captain Tamim Iqbal’s patient 44 provided the foundation for the Bangladeshi reply notwithstanding the efforts of Akeal Hosein who returned figures of 3 for 26 that briefly stymied the home side’s reply.
“Whatever score we put up, our work is to go there and work hard. Akeal on debut was very good, picking up three wickets and being very economical,” Mohammed said.
Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim was unbeaten on 19 and Mahmudullah nine, as Bangladesh eventually cruised to a comfortable victory.
