Bangladesh achieved the second highest run chase in Cricket World Cup history and pushed the West Indies close to elimination with a comfortable seven-wicket win on Monday (Tuesday NZ time).
When West Indies surged to post 321-8, they knew every team making 300-plus batting first had won in this World Cup, eight times out of eight.
But Bangladesh treated the fact like fluff on a shirt, flicking it off as they strolled to 322-3 to win with 51 balls to spare.
Shakib Al Hasan starred in the comeback with 124 not out, his second successive century in the tournament, and Liton Das added 94 not out in his World Cup debut. They combined for an unbeaten 189 in 22.3 overs, receiving plenty of bad deliveries to treat ruthlessly.
Bangladesh's second precious win in five matches lifted them into the top half of the standings. The mission to make a first World Cup semi-final received a massive boost.
The deflated West Indies, however, dropped to one win in five with a hard road ahead against New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to reach the semi-finals for the time in 23 years.
Shakib sliced apart a pedestrian West Indies attack with pulls and cuts off the back foot, and some luck. He top edged three times over the wicketkeeper, and should have been out on 55, but keeper Shai Hope, running backwards, and Shannon Gabriel, coming forwards, didn't communicate and both backed off as the ball fell between them.
Other shots by Shakib and Das landed near fielders who made little effort to go for them, the batsman gradually stripping hope from the West Indies, who were reduced to long faces, heads down and thousand-yard stares.
The result was no surprise. Bangladesh came in having beaten the West Indies in seven of their last nine matches, including the last four, all from batting second.
The Bangladeshis prepared meticulously for the short ball, even taking hits to the body in the nets, and the preparation paid off.
Their cause was added by the pacemen often bowling too short, too full or wayward. They conceded 25 wides. Shannon Gabriel and Oshane Thomas were liabilities, and the decision to play all-rounder Andre Russell was questionable.
Russell's bad knees are not allowing him to express himself. He was out for a two-ball duck, and he took the first Bangladesh wicket. But he left the field after bowling three overs, and after six overs, and was a reluctant fielder while hobbling around.
His limitations put pressure on captain Jason Holder, who bowled pace too long. Chris Gayle's spin wasn't introduced until the 30th over, but Shakib and Das had 77 together by then and hit Gayle for 22 off two overs and saw him off.
Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar set the tone of Bangladesh's fearless riposte in the first seven overs with a 52-run stand, then Tamim and Shakib combined for 69. Shakib became the second Bangladeshi to pass 6,000 one-day international (ODI) runs, after his partner Tamim.
It took an incredible reaction catch and throw by Sheldon Cottrell to wedge out Tamim, run out on 48, then Mushfiqur Rahim got himself out to a wide ball down the leg side.
But Shakib, coming off 121 against England, was resolute. He eclipsed Aaron Finch as leading World Cup run-scorer and brought up his century from 83 balls with a cover drive off Thomas.
His unbeaten 124, his ninth ODI century, included 16 boundaries.
"To stay at the wicket till the end was the most satisfying," he said. He added he's enjoying the promotion from No 5 to No 3 in the batting order, and more to bat.
"If I bat at 5, I'll come in at the 30th over or 40th over, which I feel is not ideal for me."
Das came in at No 5, and he made it work. He replaced the ineffective Mohammad Mithun in the only change after the losing run chase against England nine days ago, and his placement was not only clever but also cheeky, hitting to parts just vacated by West Indies fielders.
He hit Gabriel for three sixes in a row, was dropped by Cottrell on 72, and completed the victory by pulling Gabriel to the boundary, his eighth.
In World Cup history, only Ireland's 329-7 rundown of England in 2011 was better.
At The County Ground, Taunton: West Indies 321-8 (Shai Hope 96, Evin Lewis 70, Shimron Hetmyer 50; Mustafizur Rahman 3-59, Mohammad Saifuddin 3-72) lost to Bangladesh 322-3 (Shakib Al Hasan 124no, Liton Das 94no) by seven wickets.