Bangladesh , Pakistan have one eye on ICC Champions Trophy 2017

On 93 points, Bangladesh currently sits pretty in seventh position on the ICC ODI Team Rankings and needs one win to retain its pre-series points. A failure to win any matches will result in it dropping to 90 points.

On the other side of the coin, if it maintains the form it showed against Pakistan and India, and wins the series against South Africa, then it will cement its qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. A 2-1 series win will put it on 96 points, while it will vault to 99 points if it wins all the three matches.

As far as South Africa is concerned, a 3-0 victory will be needed to move it up from fourth in the table.

Ninth-ranked Pakistan is on 87 points and will move ahead of the West Indies (88 points) by a fraction of a point if it wins the series by 3-2 or better. Pakistan can rise to as high as 94 points if it wins all the matches, but will drop to as low as 84 points if it fails to register a win.

For Sri Lanka, a 5-0 win will put it on 108 points while a 5-0 will defeat will see it slip to 100 points.

With only seven teams, plus host England, eligible to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to be staged in the United Kingdom from 1-19 June, there is extra context to the matches between Bangladesh and South Africa and Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The cut-off date determining the participating teams is 30 September 2015.

Bangladesh, West Indies and Pakistan are separated by just six points and with the West Indies not immediately involved in any series, if Bangladesh and Pakistan perform strongly in the forthcoming series, they can strengthen their claims for a place in the elite tournament.

The West Indies won the tournament in 2004 and together with Pakistan has featured in every event since 1998 when it was launched as ICC Knock-Out. Bangladesh’s last appearance in the ICC Champions Trophy was in India in 2006.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe takes on a new-look India in a three-match series from Friday. Second-ranked India (115 points) leads 11th-ranked Zimbabwe (44 points) by 71 ratings and this gap means it is expected to win the series convincingly. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure to win the series convincingly will mean India will drop points.

If India wins the series 2-1, it will concede two points to drop to 113 while it will surrender four points and slip to 111 points if it loses the series 2-1. As South Africa will move up one point to 113 if it wins all the three matches against Bangladesh, it is important for India to achieve a clean sweep in the series so that it can continue to occupy second position, even if it is by a fraction of a point.

The following are the permutations of the forthcoming series:
Bangladesh (93 pts) v South Africa (112 pts)

·       If BD wins 3-0, then BD 99 pts, SA 107 pts

·       If BD wins 2-1, then BD 96 pts, SA 110 pts

·       If SA wins 2-1, then BD 93 pts, SA 111 pts

·       If SA wins 3-0, then BD 90 pts, SA 113 pts

Zimbabwe (44 pts) v India (115 pts)

·       If Zim wins 3-0, then Zim 52 pts, Ind 109 pts

·       If Zim wins 2-1, then Zim 49 pts, Ind 111 pts

·       If Ind wins 2-1, then Zim 46 pts, Ind 113 pts

·       If Ind wins 3-0, then Zim 43 pts, Ind 115 pts

Sri Lanka (106 pts) v Pakistan (87 pts)

·       If SL wins 5-0, then SL 108 pts, Pak 84 pts

·       If SL wins 4-1, then SL 107 pts, Pak 86 pts

·       If SL wins 3-2, then SL 105 pts, Pak 88 pts

·       If Pak wins 3-2, then SL 103 pts, Pak 90 pts

·       If Pak wins 4-1, then SL 102 pts, Pak 92 pts

·       If Pak wins 5-0, then SL 100 pts, Pak 94 pts

Meanwhile, in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, South Africa captain AB de Villiers is the number-one ranked batsman, followed by Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka. However, in the absence of these two batsmen, South Africa’s third-ranked Hashim Amla will featured as the highest-ranked batsman in the forthcoming series. Fifth-ranked Tillakaratne Dilshan is the next highest-ranked batsman, trailing Amla by 35 points.

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers, South Africa’s second-ranked Imran Tahir will aim to narrow the gap with Mitchell Starc when he takes the field against Bangladesh. The wrist spinner is 49 points behind the left-arm fast bowler.

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is the next high-ranked bowler to feature in the forthcoming series. The number-one ranked all-rounder occupies eighth position on the bowling chart.

Forthcoming matches:

Bangladesh v South Africa

10 July – First ODI, Mirpur

12 July – Second ODI, Mirpur

15 July – Third ODI, Chittagong

Zimbabwe v India

10 July – First ODI, Harare

12 July – Second ODI, Harare

14 July – Third ODI, Harare

Sri Lanka v Pakistan

11 July – First ODI, Dambulla (d)

15 July – Second ODI, Pallekele

19 July – Third ODI, Colombo

22 July – Fourth ODI, Colombo

26 July – Fifth ODI, Hambantota

ICC ODI TEAM RANKINGS (as on 8 July)

Rank   Team              Points

1          Australia         129

2          India                115

3          New Zealand   112

4          South Africa   112

5          Sri Lanka        106

6          England           98

7          Bangladesh     93

8          West Indies     88

9          Pakistan          87

10        Ireland             50

11        Zimbabwe       44

12        Afghanistan    41

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC ODI PLAYER RANKINGS (as on 8 July)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Points    Avge      Highest Ranking

   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         802        50.66    886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

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

   6          K. Williamson     NZ          786        47.41    789 v Aus at Auckland 2015

   7          S. Dhawan           Ind         777        44.41    794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

   8          MS Dhoni            Ind         734        52.24    836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

   9          Ross Taylor         NZ          732        43.03    736 v Eng at Southampton 2015

  10         Glenn Maxwell   Aus        720        35.05    724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015

Selected (top 75)

Rank     Player                  Team     Points    Avge      Highest Ranking

  16         Q. de Kock          SA          670        38.83    749 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  19=      Angelo Mathews SL          661        40.24    707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

               Faf du Plessis      SA          661        36.60    703 v NZ at Bay Oval 2014

  21         M. Rahim             Ban        652        31.16    663 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

  23         David Miller       SA          635!      38.06    635 v NZ at Auckland 2015

  28         Tamim Iqbal        Ban        615        31.35    637 v WI at Khulna 2012

  31         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        600        35.23    683 v Pak at Mirpur 2012

  32         Ahmed Shehzad Pak         597        34.56    670 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  33         JP Duminy           SA          592        39.66    668 v Net at Mohali 2011

  34         M. Hafeez            Pak         591        31.12    665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  35         L. Thirimanne     SL          578        33.43    590 v Eng at Wellington 2015

  38         Nasir Hossain     Ban        569        34.08    585 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013

  40         Ajinkya Rahane  Ind         563        30.63    591 v UAE at Perth 2015

  47         Umar Akmal        Pak         551        34.67    702 v Afg at Sharjah 2012

  48         Sean Williams     Zim        547        33.78    556 v Ind at Auckland 2015

  51         Soumya Sarkar   Ban        539*!    40.58    539 v Ind at Mirpur 2015

  53         Mahmudullah     Ban        537        33.97    567 v NZ at Hamilton 2015

  55         H. Masakadza     Zim        529        28.20    566 v Ban at Mirpur 2009

  56         Azhar Ali             Pak         525*!    52.23    525 v Zim at Lahore 2015

  57         Anamul Haque    Ban        520*     35.18    567 v Zim at Mirpur 2014

  58         Haris Sohail        Pak         517*     43.00    520 v Zim at Lahore 2015

  60         E. Chigumbura    Zim        510        25.60    554 v SA at Bulawayo 2007

  68         Ambati Rayudu  Ind         481*     39.35    500 v SL at Ranchi 2014

  71         Rilee Rossouw    SA          477*!    34.77    477 v NZ at Auckland 2015

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Points    Highest Ranking

  1           Mitchell Starc     Aus        783!      783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   2          Imran Tahir         SA          734*     735 v SL at Sydney 2015

   3          Trent Boult          NZ          727*     738 v Eng at The Oval 2015

   4          Dale Steyn           SA          717        746 v Ind at Durban 2013

   5          Sunil Narine        WI          709        791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   6          M. Johnson          Aus        693        724 v Ban at Darwin 2008

   7          Saeed Ajmal        Pak         682        810 v SA at Centurion 2013

   8          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        680        717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   9          Morne Morkel    SA          666        717 v SL at East London 2012

  10         R. Ashwin            Ind         654        691 v SL at Hambantota 2012

Selected (top 75)

Rank     Player                  Team     Points    Highest Ranking

  14         Rangana Herath  SL          615       703 v SA at Pallekele 2013

  18         S. Senanayake     SL          582       656 v NZ at Christchurch 2015

  19         M. Hafeez            Pak         581       769 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

  21         B. Kumar             Ind         579       657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014

  24         Angelo Mathews SL          572       649 v Ind at Trinidad 2013

  25         Lasith Malinga    SL          570       675 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007

  28         M. Mortaza          Ban        562       653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009

  31         Tendai Chatara   Zim        553*     562 v Ire at Hobart 2015

  35         Suranga Lakmal  SL          526       547 v Ban at Melbourne 2015

  38         Prosper Utseya   Zim        520       663 v Ban at Harare 2006

  40=      Wayne Parnell    SA          510       550 v WI at Centurion 2015

               T. Dilshan            SL          510       529 v NZ at Hamilton 2015

  46         Junaid Khan        Pak         493       655 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013

  51         Arafat Sunny       Ban        481*     499 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

  53         N. Kulasekara     SL          478       727 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

  55         Mohit Sharma     Ind         477*     495 v Aus at Sydney 2015

               Ajantha Mendis  SL          477       648 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2011

               Rubel Hossain    Ban        477       514 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

  68         JP Duminy           SA          451       456 v SL at Sydney 2015

  75         S. Prasanna          SL          425*     442 v NZ at Wellington 2015

All-rounders (top 5)

Rank     Player                  Team     Points    Highest Ranking

   1          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        408       453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2          T. Dilshan            SL          404       415 v Sco at Hobart 2015

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

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

   5          M. Hafeez            Pak         343       438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013