Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on Monday said he is all but certain that Bangladesh will have a direct entry to World Cup 2019 as according to him the Tigers are set to move to fifth place in rankings. The seven countries in the ICC ranking on September 30, 2017 and hosts England will have a direct entry in the 10-nation competition. The series which will be used for qualification process will be 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, with results of 2014-15 and 2015-16 to be weighted at 50 per cent and results of 2016-17 to be weighted at 100 per cent.
Therefore, the results which be most important in shaping ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 qualification will be those which will be played over the next 17 months as these will be weighted at 100 per cent, while results from 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be reduced to a weighting of 50 per cent.
Nazmul claimed that he was told by ICC chief executive David Richardson that the Tigers will move to fifth place, which will boost their chance of playing in World Cup.
‘Our performance has been recognised by the ICC,’ Nazmul told reporters on Monday after his return from an ICC meeting in Dubai. ‘This will play a role in our qualification to the 2019 World Cup.
‘Dave Richardson said that the projection is for Bangladesh to be all but confirmed to the tournament.’
The BCB president hoped Bangladesh will very soon be able to challenge top cricketing nations in other perspectives to join the Big Three.
‘If you want to be big, it’s open for everybody,’ he said. ‘Three elements – performance, revenue and viewership – are taken into consideration while judging a big team.
‘If you take performance into consideration then there is not much difference between us and the top teams…if we can play to our potential we have all the possibilities to be among the top teams.
‘As far as viewership is concerned let me just give you example. In the last World Cup the highest viewership match was between India and Pakistan and the second highest was between India and Bangladesh,’ said Nazmul.
‘This time [in ICC World Twenty20] the match between India and Pakistan and the match between Bangladesh and India had the same amount of viewership so that’s how it stands.
‘The third is local market development [revenue].
‘You cannot compare anything with India as they are huge while England and Australia are also firmly poised in their position but who is next?
‘Our market is growing like anything.
‘Earlier we used to sell our TV rights to Nimbus or ESPN, Star Sports and Ten Sports but now our own local company is buying it and receiving more than what we had earned earlier.
‘Same goes with the team sponsorship. Earlier it was with Sahara but now it’s a local brand and we have a very good price.
‘So a market is developing and like others it is also recognised by the ICC commercial people.
‘So if our performance is there I don’t think there will be anything like big three,’ said Nazmul.
Nazmul however added in order to be recognised as top teams in real sense Bangladesh must improve their performance in other formats.
‘We need to do well in all formats. Maybe we will do better in ODIs but we must have a minimum standard in Tests and Twenty20 internationals.’
-With New Age input
