Bangladesh have climbed atop the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League standing after their 88-run win in the second ODI of the three-match series against Afghanistan in Chittagong Friday. Bangladesh won their 10th game in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League 2020-23 out of 14, taking their points tally to 100 with a net run rate of 0.422. They go past England, who currently occupy second spot with 95 points. They also become the first team to breach the 100-point mark in the CWCSL. Let us recall their campaign.
Bangladesh 3-0 West Indies
Bangladesh's CWCSL journey started out on a bright note with a 3-0 series win over the West Indies in January 2021. The Tigers were absolutely dominant in the series, with the West Indies failing to cross the 200-run mark any of the game. 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 Mahmudullah helped them post a huge target of 298, which were 120 runs too many for the 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 neighbors Sri Lanka. Mushfiq 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 five-for from Shakib helped them register a dominant 155-run win in the first match. 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 unbeaten 96 and Zimbabwe were beaten by three wickets in the last over. Bangladesh were given a target of 299 in the final game, but a Tamim 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 now have three series, part of the ICC Super League, 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 seven 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.
