Bangladesh slipped to the ninth spot on the ICC rankings. (Source: File)
Bangladesh slumped to the ninth spot on the ICC rankings after succumbing to yet another defeat against the West Indies. The 166-run victory helped the Windies to move to the eight spot. Bangladesh’s 2-0 loss to the Windies led to the Tigers conceding eight points as their counterparts gained five. The 13 point shift led to both the sides swapping one place in the rankings. Both the sides are now separated by 10 points. Captain of the West Indies cricket team, Jason Holder produced a match-winning performance in the second Test at Sabina Park which also helped him breakthrough into the top five all-rounders. Holder picked up 6/59 as Bangladesh were bowled out for 168 chasing 335. Among the batsmen, Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne has also jumped 21 places to the 10th position after scoring a sensational 158 to help the Islanders beat South Africa in the first Test at Galle.
Bangladesh’s steady decline in the longer format will be a cause of concern. After a nightmarish tour to South Africa, they have now failed to make amends in the Carribean islands. The fact that the Tigers have been playing Test cricket for more than a decade and still haven’t shown a marked improvement will be ringing alarm bells in the Bangladesh cricket board.
Reflecting on his team’s performance, skipper Shakib Al Hasan said, “There are so many areas we need to sit down and talk about. It was a very disappointing series. We expected to show a better performance but that did not happen. I don’t know about the team but I believed that we can come back in the series. We were not good enough on the park. This is a big issue. We have been playing Test cricket for the last 18-19 years and we haven’t done well away from the home and that is one area we really want to improve upon.”