Bangladesh will begin their three-match one-day internationals campaign against South Africa with one eye on ICC Champions Trophy 2017 as they need to win one game against the visitors to retain pre-series points, said an ICC press release on Wednesday. The battle for the final two available places in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 will hot up when Bangladesh squares off against South Africa on Friday as they are closely followed by Pakistan, who begin their five match series against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on Saturday.
England and seven other top ranked sides according to the standing of 30th September of this year will be eligible to take part in the coveted tournament.
On 93 points, Bangladesh currently sit pretty in seventh position on the ICC ODI Team Rankings and need one win to retain their pre-series points. A failure to win any matches will decrease their points to 90.
On the other hand ninth-ranked Pakistan are on 87 points and will move ahead of the West Indies (88 points) by a fraction of a point if they win the series by 3-2 or better. Pakistan can rise to as high as 94 points if they win all the matches, but will drop to as low as 84 points if fail to register a win.
On the other side of the coin, if Bangladesh maintain the form they showed against Pakistan and India, and win the series against South Africa, then they will have 96 points, while they will vault to 99 points if win all three matches.
The West Indies won the tournament in 2004 and together with Pakistan have 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.
-With New Age input
