Bangladesh maintained their perfect record in the ODI tri-series, defeating Zimbabwe by 91 runs in Dhaka in the penultimate group match of the competition to confirm their position at the top of the table.

Zimbabwe, who have won one and lost three of their matches in the tournament, must now wait on the result of the last group fixture between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Thursday to see if they will be taking on the hosts in Sunday’s final, www.icc-cricket.com.

At the halfway point in this match Zimbabwe would have fancied their chances of pulling off a surprise victory after restricting their hosts to 216/9 thanks to a disciplined bowling display. But their batsmen never got going, as they stuttered to 68/6 and were eventually dismissed for 125.

Kyle Jarvis had trapped Anamul Haque lbw in the third over of the day after Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat, before Tamim Iqbal (76) and Shakib Al Hasan (51) shared a second-wicket stand of 106 to get the innings back on track. Tamim and Shakib had starred in Bangladesh’s previous win versus Sri Lanka and looked in ominous form until Sikandar Raza’s dismissal of the latter, stumped by Brendon Taylor, precipitated a collapse that saw them slip from 112/1 to 170/8.

Jarvis (3/42) and the leg-spinner Graeme Cremer (4/32) were the pick of the Zimbabwean attack, as wickets fell at regular intervals. Tamim – who has scored 244 runs at an average of 122 so far in the competition – was eventually dismissed in the 37th over with the score 163/5, and were it not for some robust lower-order hitting by Sunzamul Islam (19) and Mustafizur Rahman (18*), Bangladesh would have been looking at a total below 200.

 Tamim Iqbal scored his third half-century in consecutive innings Tamim Iqbal scored his third half-century in consecutive innings

Zimbabwe appeared very much in the game with a target of 217 to chase, despite a pitch that was tricky to bat on, but the picture changed dramatically after they lost four wickets inside the first 10 overs.

Mashrafe Mortaza (2/29), Bangladesh’s captain, got the ball rolling by encouraging Hamilton Masakadza to edge to Sabbir Rahman at slip, before Shakib (3/34) bowled Solmon Mire and trapped Taylor lbw with successive deliveries with his left-arm spin. When Mortaza accounted for Craig Ervine, Rahman again taking the catch, Zimbabwe’s reply looked beyond repair.

Raza (39) and Cremer (23) offered some spirited resistance, but the visitors never looked like chasing down the target after their terrible start. Mustafizur, who took 2/16 from 6.3 overs, and left-arm spinner Islam (2/28) ensured there was no let up, with Bangladesh wrapping up the innings in the 37th over.

It was Mortaza’s 30th ODI victory as captain, setting a new national record. On current form, the 34-year-old will be confident of adding two more wins to that tally before the week is out.