Bangladesh's coming of age?

These are clearly great times to be a Bangladesh fan. If the World Cup showed glimpses of the team coming together as a unit and performing close to their potential, then the ODI series against Pakistan took it several notches higher. Not only did Bangladesh clinch the series, they did so in style, winning by whopping margins of 79 runs, seven wickets (with 71 balls to spare) and eight wickets (with 63 balls to spare).

Admittedly, Pakistan weren't at their best - they had a first-time captain in Azhar Ali, who was returning to the ODI format after a couple of years; Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi announced their retirement from the format after the World Cup, while Younis Khan was rested; Mohammad Irfan was injured, while Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal were dropped. Despite all of that, Pakistan still had enough firepower on paper, but Bangladesh demolished them in every game, batting first and chasing with equal élan, against an opponent who should also have been equally comfortable with the subcontinental conditions.

This is a result to savour for Bangladesh, particularly because of the margins and ease with which they won. The overall series numbers indicate the gulf between the two teams: Bangladesh lost only 11 wickets with the bat in three games, and averaged a stunning 74 runs per wicket, scoring at nearly six-and-a-half per over; Pakistan lost 26 wickets and averaged less than 29. They lost a wicket every 33 balls, compared to 70 for Bangladesh. In every parameter, Bangladesh were ahead by convincing margins.

This isn't the first time Bangladesh have won an ODI series by a margin of 3-0 or more against one of the top eight teams - they've had two such wins against New Zealand, and one against West Indies. In 2010, they blanked New Zealand 4-0, and then handed out a 3-0 thrashing to them again in 2013. West Indies suffered a 3-0 defeat at home in 2009, when they fielded a second-string team.

In each of those series, though, the result margins in at least some of the games were narrow: in the 4-0 victory over New Zealand, two wins were by nine runs and one by three; in the West Indies, two wins were by three wickets, with six and seven balls to spare. Against New Zealand in 2013, the last win came with four balls to spare, and in that series Bangladesh lost 26 wickets to New Zealand's 25. Bangladesh's batting average in each of the other three series was less than 35, which indicates their batsmen didn't entirely have it their way, though in the context of the series they were still better than the opposition. The difference between Bangladesh's batting and bowling averages in those series were all less than six; this time, the difference was 46, with Pakistan losing more than twice the number of wickets the home team did.

Their average of 74.54 runs per wicket is by far Bangladesh's best in any ODI series they've played. With a minimum of three matches, no series even comes close - the next-best is 44.33, in a four-match series against Kenya at home in 2006.

The table below looks at Bangladesh's best batting performances in a series against the top-eight teams - in multi-team tournaments where lower-ranked teams were also involved (like the Asia Cup), only stats against the top-eight teams have been considered. With that caveat, Bangladesh's next-best batting average in a series is less than 43, in the three games they played against Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan in the 2014 Asia Cup. (Ironically, they were bowled out for 222 against Afghanistan in that tournament, but scored 279 for 7 against India and 326 for 3 against Pakistan.) There's only one other instance of a 40-plus average for them, in the three-match home series against Australia in 2011, a series they lost 3-0. Their batting average in the 2015 World Cup is ninth on this list, which means two of their top-ten batting displays in an ODI series have been achieved in 2015. In comparison, Bangladesh's bowling average of 28.42 in this series is their 11th-best in a series/tournament of three or more games against top-eight teams.

This batting performance by Bangladesh was also memorable for the number of centuries scored: there were four, a record for them in any series; their previous-best was three, in a five-match series against Zimbabwe in 2009. Tamim Iqbal got a couple, while Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya Sarkar got one each. In contrast, Azhar Ali's 101 in the dead rubber was Pakistan's only hundred of the series. In fact, Pakistan had seven 50-plus scores in the series to Bangladesh's six, but Bangladesh's conversion factor was way better.

Best batting series for Bangladesh (Min 3 matches*)

Series	Matches	W/ L	Bat ave	Run rate	100s
Pakistan in Bangladesh, 2015	3	3-0	74.54	6.42	4
Asia Cup, 2014 (v SL, Ind, Pak)	3	0-3	42.57	5.39	2
Australia in Bangladesh 2011	3	0-3	40.77	4.89	0
Tri-series in B'desh, 2010 (v SL, Ind)	4	0-4	37.57	5.26	0
Asia Cup 2012 (v SL, Ind, Pak)	4	2-2	35.00	5.30	0
Bangladesh in WI, 2009	3	3-0	33.52	5.21	0
New Zealand in Bangladesh, 2013	3	3-0	31.57	5.54	0
Bangladesh in Sri Lanka, 2013	3	1-1	29.53	5.82	1
World Cup, 2015	4	1-3	29.29	5.18	2

* Only includes series against one of the top eight teams; in multi-team tournaments where lower-ranked teams were also involved, only matches against the top eight teams are considered

Since the beginning of the 2015 World Cup, Bangladesh have four batsmen who've scored more than 300 ODI runs, and they all average more than 40, and only one of them - Mahmudullah - has a strike rate of less than 85. Mushfiqur has led the way with five 50-plus scores in nine innings, and has an outstanding average and strike rate, while Tamim has shrugged off his poor form with scores of 132, 116 not out and 64 in three innings against Pakistan. His series aggregate of 312 is the second-highest for Bangladesh in any series/tournament, next only to Mahmudullah's 365 from six innings in the 2015 World Cup.

The revelation in Bangladesh's batting in the last couple of months has been the ability of their batsmen to carry on after getting starts, and converting them into hundreds. In their last six ODIs - three in this series and the last three in the World Cup - Bangladesh have scored six hundreds, with Tamim and Mahmudullah getting two each. Their previous six hundreds took 27 ODIs, going back all the way to December 2012. In fact, six ODI hundreds in a calendar year is already a record for Bangladesh - before 2015 they'd never managed more than four.

The next target for them will be to win the home ODI series against South Africa, who will come visiting in July. Bangladesh have never won more than five ODIs against the top-eight sides in a calendar year, but if they win two out of three in that series, they would have broken that record too. South Africa will obviously start off as huge favourites, but given the form and wave of confidence they're riding, Bangladesh will fancy their chances in that series too. First, though, they will want to prove that they've improved as a Test team too, when they take on Pakistan in a two-Test series over the next couple of weeks. For motivation, they only need to look at their Test record against Pakistan: played eight, lost eight.