On Wednesday Bangladesh has scripted a historic 8-wicket win against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui to take a 1-0 lead in the 2-match series. It also broke New Zealand’s 17-match unbeaten streak at home. And finally, Bangladesh opened their account in the points table of the World Test Championship. With 12 points in their kitty, they are currently placed at no.5.
Notable that in the previous cycle of World Test Championship 2019-21, Bangladesh couldn’t win a single game and finished at the bottom of the table with only 20 points.
Roadmap for Bangladesh:
This is only 2nd series for Bangladesh in this WTC cycle. Earlier they lost by 0-2 at home against Pakistan. However, their path isn’t easy from here as they have to travel to South Africa and West Indies for the 2-match series while they will host Sri Lanka and India the next season. In 2009, Bangladesh beat a second-string West Indies side by 2-0 in 2009 while in the rainbow nation they lost all 6 Test matches in the previous tours.
Roadmap for New Zealand:
Meanwhile, things will be tricky for New Zealand after this loss as they heavily rely on home series results. In the previous WTC cycle, the kiwis won all 6 games at home which took them to the WTC final and eventually won the title beating India in the final. This time they had a decent start when they earned an unlikely draw to deny India a win at their own den but this loss against Bangladesh will make things interesting for them.
In this cycle, they will have to travel to England and Pakistan for 3 and 2-match series respectively while after this Bangladesh series they will host South Africa and Sri Lanka for the 2-match series. Earlier they already lost the 2-match series in India by 0-1.
A vital #WTC23 win from Bangladesh!
They jump to fifth after defeating New Zealand by eight wickets. pic.twitter.com/fiy8geYSLT
— ICC (@ICC) January 5, 2022
Other scenarios:
Among other teams, Australia consolidated its position with heavy one-sided results in England. If they clean sweep the series by 5-0, they will finish with 60 points after their first series. However, their all away tours are in Asia (India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) where they hadn’t a great record of late.
As far as India is concerned, they are currently placed at no.4. They have three crucial test matches to follow- two in South Africa and one in England next summer. They have two home series to follow, 2-match series against Sri Lanka in Feb-March 2022 and 4-match series against Australia next season.
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