It is now official that Bangladesh are ranked seventh in the ICC one-day international rankings after the annual update on May 4 and they are leading the eighth placed West Indies by just 10 points as opposed to the claim of Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan. The latest ranking, which was published on Thursday, also suggested that Bangladesh must continue to play well and play as many matches as possible if they are to qualify directly for World Cup 2019 in England.
After the recent ICC meeting in Dubai, Nazmul was convinced that barring a miracle Bangladesh will directly qualify for the event as he was told that they are currently fifth in event qualification ranking.
The ICC understandably made a presentation in its Dubai meeting to show the position of teams in 2019 World Cup qualification race, which said Bangladesh will lead ninth placed Pakistan by 22 points based on their result of last two seasons.
Excited, as Bangladesh are much ahead in the race, Nazmul mixed it will general ODI rankings, where the result of at least three seasons are considered.
The BCB president told reporters in Dhaka that whatever happens in next-one-and-a-half-year, Bangladesh are almost guaranteed of a place in the World Cup.
‘We have to go down by 22 points to be below No 8 in the ODI rankings. We don’t also have a lot of ODI series too, so we should remain afloat,’ the BCB president had told the reporters at a briefing at his Beximco office on April 25.
Nazmul not only made huge blunder by mixing the event qualification chart with general ODI ranking, he was also completely oblivious of the schedule of other teams.
When Bangladesh are scheduled to play just 12 ODIs next-one-and-a-half-year before September 30 cut-off date for World Cup qualifications, their two nearest rivals West Indies and Pakistan will play 24 and 23 ODIs respectively during this period.
Although there will be another team rankings annual update prior to this cut-off dat,e the ODIs played in next few months will be significant for all teams.
The ODIs that will be played now will be weighted at 100 per cent in the ranking, whereas matches played between May 2014 and April 2016 will be weighted at only 50 per cent in next update.
All the teams bunched together in the middle of the table will have to win as many matches as possible in the forthcoming season, knowing it will help ensure direct qualification for the event, scheduled from May 30 to July 15, 2019.
So it appears that as fewer ODIs means teams will have fewer chances to improve their rankings compared to other before the cut-off off date.
The hosts, England, and the seven next highest-ranked sides in ODI rankings on the cut-off date will qualify directly for cricket’s biggest event, while others will join a qualifying tournament in 2018 to fight for the two remaining positions.
-With New Age input
