Bangladesh hopes to seize ICC Champions Trophy 2017 initiative

Host England, plus the seven next highest-ranked sides on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as on 30 September 2015, will progress to the tournament, which will be staged from 1 to 19 June in England and Wales.

Bangladesh is currently level with the West Indies on 88 points but is ranked below the West Indies in eighth position, while Pakistan is one point behind in ninth spot. If Bangladesh wins the series 3-0, then it will move to 96 points while a 2-1 win will see the host rise to 93 points. Even if Bangladesh loses the series 2-1, it will be enough to put it ahead of the West Indies in seventh place by a fraction of a point.

MS Dhoni’s side, in contrast, can reduce leader Australia’s advantage to 10 points should it sweep the series three-nil. In this scenario, Bangladesh will slip to ninth position on 96 points.

If India wins the series 2-1, it will remain on 117 points, while a 2-1 loss will mean it will join New Zealand on 115 points but will still be ranked above Brendon McCullum’s side, which is currently in the middle of a highly entertaining series with England and holds a 2-1 lead after the first three games. The series concludes in Chester-le-Street on 20 June.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli enters the forthcoming series as the highest-ranked batsman on either side in fourth place in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen. The Delhi-born right-hander is one of the three India batsmen inside the top 10 alongside Shikhar Dhawan (seventh) and Dhoni (ninth).

Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh’s highest-ranked batsman in 18th position, five points adrift of England’s Jos Buttler, while much will depend on Tamim Iqbal (27th), Shakib Al Hasan (33rd) and Nasir Hossain (42nd) as the hosts bid to create daylight between the West Indies and Pakistan.

In the Reliance ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Bangladesh’s Shakib, who hit the 150-cap mark last time out against Pakistan, has seventh-ranked Saeed Ajmal in his sights. The left-arm spinner will also be aiming to hit the 200-wicket mark during the series as he currently stands on 195. In eighth place, he is the highest-ranked bowler heading into the series.

However, India has four bowlers inside the top 20, with Ravichandran Ashwin (12th) leading the way. Five points then separate Umesh Yadav (16th), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (17th) and Ravindra Jadeja (18th).

The Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders still sees Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan lead the way with a six-point gap over second-placed Shakib, who, in turn, holds a 20-point lead over Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.

Meanwhile, with New Zealand holding a 2-1 advantage over England with two games remaining, several players have made significant advances on both sides.

Black Caps’ Ross Taylor leads the way as he has climbed to a career-high eighth position to date following scores of 57, 119 not out and 110 in the series so far. Kane Williamson has moved up a position to sixth after accumulating scores of 45, 93 and 118.

England players making positive advances include Joe Root, who has joined Rohit Sharma in 12th position after scoring 164 runs in three games. Jos Buttler has also leapt nine spots to 17th after accumulating 183 runs to date, while England skipper Eoin Morgan, who is third on the list of highest run-getters after three matches following scores of 50, 88 and 71, has vaulted 11 places to 34th position.

New Zealand’s left-arm fast bowler, Trent Boult, has continued his fine run of form in 50-over cricket, which saw him selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup Team of the Tournament. His six wickets for a miserly 108 runs to date has lifted him up three spots to joint-second alongside South Africa’s Imran Tahir.

England bowler Steven Finn’s five wickets to date have also pushed him up two places to 13th, while Tim Southee (up one to 19th) and Matt Henry (up 12 to 53rd) are also on the rise.

With the fourth (Trent Bridge) and fifth (Chester-le-Street) ODIs down for decision over the coming days, further movements are expected on both sides.

Upcoming fixtures

Bangladesh v India:
18 Jun – 1st ODI, Mirpur (d/n)
21 Jun – 2nd ODI, Mirpur (d/n)
24 Jun – 3rd ODI, Mirpur (d/n)

England v New Zealand:
17 June – 4th ODI, Nottingham (d/n)
19 Jun – 5th ODI, Durham (d)

Reliance ICC ODI Championship table (as on 16 June, after first three England-New Zealand matches and ahead of Bangladesh-India series):

Rank   Team              Points

1          Australia         129

2          India                117

3          New Zealand   115

4          South Africa   112

5          Sri Lanka        106

6          England           95

7          West Indies     88      

8          Bangladesh     88

9          Pakistan          87

10        Ireland             50

11        Zimbabwe       44

12        Afghanistan    41

Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (after first three England-New Zealand matches and ahead of Bangladesh-India series):

Batsmen

Rank     (+/-)       Player                 Team     Points      Ave        HS Rating

  1           ( - )         AB de Villiers     SA          902!      53.65    902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   2          ( - )         K. Sangakkara     SL          860       41.98    861 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   3          ( - )         Hashim Amla      SA          828       55.26    901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

   4          ( - )         Virat Kohli          Ind         822       51.47    886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

   5          ( - )         T. Dilshan            SL          793       39.65    802 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   6          (+1)       K. Williamson     NZ          775       46.69    789 v Aus at Auckland 2015

   7          (-1)        Shikhar Dhawan Ind         756       43.98    794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

   8          (+3)       Ross Taylor         NZ          736!      43.01    736 v Eng at Southampton 2015

   9          (-1)        MS Dhoni            Ind         731       52.46    836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

  10         (-1)        Glenn Maxwell   Aus        720       35.05    724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015

Selected Rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player                Team     Points       Ave        HS Rating

12=       ( - )         Rohit Sharma      Ind         685       39.43    686 v Ban at Melbourne 2015

               (+4)       Joe Root                              Eng        685       40.95    696 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015

  17         (+9)       Jos Buttler           Eng        668       34.02    680 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015

  18         (-1)        M. Rahim             Ban        663!      31.37    663 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

  21         (-1)        Suresh Raina       Ind         653       36.16    669 v Eng at Dharamsala 2013

  22         ( - )         B. McCullum       NZ          635       30.40    685 v Eng at Auckland 2013

  24         (-3)        Martin Guptill     NZ          634       39.30    684 v Zim at Napier 2012

  27         (+1)       Tamim Iqbal        Ban        621       31.46    637 v WI at Khulna 2012

  33         ( - )         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        589       34.80    683 v Pak at Mirpur 2012

  34         (+11)     Eoin Morgan       Ire/Eng  588       36.37    690 v Aus at The Oval 2010

  35         ( - )         Ajinkya Rahane  Ind         580       31.05    591 v UAE at Perth 2015

  37         (-1)        Luke Ronchi       Aus/NZ 577       29.45    617 v SL at Christchurch 2015

  38         (-4)        Corey Anderson NZ          575*     35.30    604 v Ind at Hamilton 2014

  42         (-1)        Nasir Hossain     Ban        557*     34.15    585 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013

47         (-4)        Grant Elliott        NZ          547       34.79    556 v Aus at Melbourne 2015

Bowlers

Rank     (+/-)       Player                 Team     Points     Ave        Econ      HS Rating

   1          ( - )         Mitchell Starc     Aus        783!      18.33    4.70      783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   2=       (+3)       Trent Boult          NZ          734*     24.08    4.64      738 v Eng at The Oval 2015

               ( - )         Imran Tahir         SA          734*     20.51    4.35      735 v SL at Sydney 2015

   4          (-1)        Dale Steyn           SA          717       25.57    4.81      746 v Ind at Durban 2013

   5          (-1)        Sunil Narine        WI          709       26.49    4.10      791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   6          (-1)        M. Johnson          Aus        693       25.26    4.83      724 v Ban at Darwin 2008

   7          ( - )         Saeed Ajmal        Pak         682       22.73    4.18      810 v SA at Centurion 2013

   8          ( - )         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        676       28.25    4.31      717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   9          (+1)       Morne Morkel    SA          666       23.98    4.90      717 v SL at East London 2012

  10         (-1)        James Anderson Eng        657       29.22    4.92      719 v SA at The Oval 2013

Selected Rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player               Team     Points      Ave        Econ      HS Rating

  12         ( - )         R. Ashwin            Ind         621       31.93    4.85      691 v SL at Hambantota 2012

  13         (+2)       Steven Finn         Eng        615       28.30    5.01      755 v NZ at Auckland 2013

  16         ( - )         Umesh Yadav     Ind         599       31.44    5.74      600 v Ban at Melbourne 2015

  17         ( - )         B. Kumar             Ind         598       36.76    4.61      657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014

  18         (+1)       Ravindra Jadeja  Ind         594       33.19    4.84      738 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013

  19         (+1)       Tim Southee        NZ          591       31.16    5.30      638 v Eng at Wellington 2015

  23         ( - )         M. Mortaza          Ban        582       30.73    4.71      653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009

  44         (-9)        M.McClenaghan NZ          503       27.54    6.08      603 v SL at Christchurch 2015

  46         (+3)       Arafat Sunny       Ban        499*!    20.81    4.28      499 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

  48         (+2)       Mohit Sharma     Ind         495*!    31.26    4.98      495 v Aus at Sydney 2015

  49         (-4)        Chris Jordan        Eng        494*     30.64    5.84      513 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2014

  53         (+12)     Matt Henry          NZ          484*     21.88    5.31      496 v SL at Hamilton 2015

All-rounders

Rank     (+/-)       Player                                 Team     Points                  HS Rating

   1          ( - )         T. Dilshan                           SL          404                      415 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   2          ( - )         Shakib Al Hasan                Ban        398                      453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   3          ( - )         Angelo Mathews               SL          378                      427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

   4          ( - )         James Faulkner                  Aus        361*/ !                 361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   5          ( - )         Mohammad Hafeez           Pak         343                      438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013