New Zealand jumped all the way to first place on the ICC World Cup 2023 points table after beating Bangladesh by eight wickets in the eleventh match of the mega event in Chennai, India, on Friday.
With three wins in three matches, the Black Caps also maintained their positive 1.604 net run rate (NRR).
Here is how the points table looks after New Zealand’s third win in the tournament:
Chasing the target of 246 runs, the Kiwis had their fair share of struggle at the start as they had not just lost the opener Rachin Ravindra, but were also finding it difficult to score runs as they were 37-1 in the first 10 overs.
However, Kane Williamson and Devon Conway held forces together and accelerated the innings but the latter fell prey to Shakib Al Hasan for 45 runs as he was trying to play a reverse sweep.
Despite losing his counterpart, Kane kept going and built an astounding 108-run stand — before retiring hurt as the ball hit his thumb in the 38th over — with Daryl Mitchell, who top-scored for New Zealand scoring 89 runs at an impressive 132.83 strike rate.
Mitchell played the winning shot for his side as he sealed a significant win for the Black Caps with 43 balls to spare.
Batting first, Bangladesh met with early blows but were able to post a decent 245-run target courtesy of brilliant knocks by Shakib, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah.
The Cricket World Cup is being played in the round-robin format with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.
The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be held in Mumbai on November 15 and in Kolkata on November 16. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.
The winners of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will earn US$4 million. The runners-up will receive US$2 million, while the losing semi-finalists will earn $800,000 each from the total prize pot of US$10 million.
The winners of each match in the group stage will receive US$40,000 and the six teams that do not qualify for the semi-finals will receive a payment of US$100,000.
