Bangladesh have climbed atop the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League standings after their 88-run win over Afghanistan in Chattogram.
Bangladesh won their 10th game in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League 2020-23 out of 14, taking their point tally to 100 with a net run rate of 0.422. They go past England, who currently occupy the second spot with 95 points. They also become the first team to breach the 100-point mark in the CWCSL.
The Tigers beat Afghanistan in the second ODI of the three-match series by 88 runs, taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead at home. Liton Das (136) and Mushfiqur Rahim (86) were the stars of the show with the bat, posting a daunting target of 307 for Afghanistan to chase down.
Afghanistan fought valiantly through half-centuries from Rahmat Shah and Najibullah Zadran but the target proved to be too steep for the visitors.
Bangladesh have been a force to reckon with so far in the CWCSL, especially at home where they have won seven of their eight games. Their only series loss in the Super League has come away from home, where they were swept 3-0 in New Zealand.
BANGLADESH'S CWCSL JOURNEY SO FAR
Bangladesh 3-0 West Indies
Bangladesh's CWCSL journey started out on a bright note with a 3-0 series win over West Indies in January 2021. The Tigers were absolutely dominant in the series, with West Indies failing to cross the 200-run mark in all three games.
In the first two matches, the visitors were bowled out for 122 and 148, with the spinners wreaking havoc. In the third match, when Bangladesh batted first, fifties from Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmud Ullah helped them post a huge target of 298, which were 120 runs too many for West Indies.
Shakib Al Hasan, who returned to ODI cricket after a gap of two years, did not miss a beat as he was named Player of the Series for 113 runs and six wickets.
New Zealand 3-0 Bangladesh
Bangladesh faltered in their first outing away from home – they were blanked by New Zealand in March 2021.
They were beaten convincingly in the first ODI where they were all out for 131, but put up a better performance in the second game. They still came up short, with Tom Latham century. They suffered a heavy 164-run loss in the final ODI.
Bangladesh 2-1 Sri Lanka
It did not take long for Bangladesh to bounce back. They registered yet another series win at home, this time against neighbours Sri Lanka.
Mushfiqur Rahim was the architect of their wins in the first two games, with scores of 84 and 125. Sri Lanka were beaten in the first and second ODIs by 33 and 103 runs respectively. They tasted defeat in the final ODI by 97 runs, which has been their only loss at home so far in the CWCSL.
Zimbabwe 0-3 Bangladesh
The Bangladesh juggernaut showed no signs of stopping when they travelled to Zimbabwe for a three-match series. A century by Liton Das and a fifer from Shakib Al Hasan helped them register a dominant 155-run win.
They were made to sweat in the second game, where they found themselves reduced to 145/6 chasing 241. Shakib bailed them out of trouble, batting through till the end to finish on 96* and Zimbabwe were beaten by three wickets in the last over.
Bangladesh were set a target of 299 in the final game, but a Tamim Iqbal ton and some brilliant finishing by Nurul Hasan and Afif Hossain got them home with an over to spare, thus completing their third CWCSL series win.
Bangladesh have three CWCSL series remaining after the completion of the current series against Afghanistan, where they are set to face South Africa (away), Ireland (away) and England (home). With 10 wins out of 14, they have put themselves in a strong position for automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
The CWCSL 2020-23 will determine which teams qualify for the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in India. Apart from India, who qualify for the World Cup as hosts, the top 7 teams from the CWCSL will qualify directly for the tournament while the remaining teams will have to go through Qualifier tournaments to book a spot in the final group stages.
