Bangladesh looks to consolidate position on ICC ranking
Seventh-placed Bangladesh will be hoping to consolidate its seventh position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings when it faces Zimbabwe in a three-match ODI series, which starts in Dhaka on Saturday.
The hosts can only hope to make a marginal one-point gain in the event of a 3-0 series win over 10th-placed Zimbabwe. However, in the event of a reverse result in favour of the African side, Bangladesh would concede eight points to slip to eighth position on 88 points behind Pakistan when the rankings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
This series is important to both the sides as each One-Day International (ODI) played over the next 23 months will count as England plus next seven highest-ranked sides on 30 September 2017 will progress to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The bottom four sides on the ICC ODI Team Rankings, along with top sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the ICC World Cricket League, will head to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 to fight out for the two remaining slots.
Shakib Al Hasan continues to blaze a trail in the ICC ODI Player Rankings and the in-form left-arm spinner is the highest-ranked bowler in fourth place heading into the series, 15 points adrift of New Zealand’s Trent Boult. Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza is in 22nd position after claiming his 200th wicket in the last ODI against South Africa in Chittagong in July, and he is seven points shy of a place inside the top 20.
Zimbabwe’s highest-ranked bowler is Tinashe Panyangara (72nd place).
Bangladesh also has the highest-ranked batsmen heading into the series, with Soumya Sarkar (17th) and Mushfiqur Rahim (19th) aiming to improve their standing inside the top 20, while their trio of team-mates Tamim Iqbal (26th), Shakib (28th) and Nasir Hossain (38th) will also be aiming to progress.
Just 16 points and four places separate Zimbabwe’s highest-ranked batsmen Sikandar Raza (40th on 563 points) and Sean Williams (44th) with Mahmudullah (48th) a further six points back.
In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders, the list is headed by 28-year-old Shakib who is 47 points clear of Sri Lanka’s Tillikaratne Dilshan.
The following are the series permutations:
Ahead of the start of the series – Bang (96), Zim (46)
• If Bang wins 3-0 – Bang 97, Zim 46
• If Bang wins 2-1 – Bang 94, Zim 48
• If Zim wins 3-0– Bang 88, Zim 52
• If Zim wins 2-1– Bang 91, Zim 50
• If the series is drawn 1-1 – Bang 93, Zim 48
