Bangladesh national cricket team players are not losing their sleep despite having good chance to reach the sixth place in the ICC one-day international rankings for the first time in their cricket history.
An International Cricket Council media release late on Sunday confirmed that a clean sweep victory against Afghanistan and a series win England afterwards will take them to sixth place in the ranking.
Bangladesh one-day skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza said he doesn’t want to eye that far at this stage and instead want to concentrate on their job at hand.
Mashrafee said he is yet to know fully about the latest ICC ranking that opened the door for Bangladesh to achieve the sixth-spot but suggested looking too far is a futile exercise.
‘Honestly, I don’t know thoroughly about it [current ICC ranking],’ Mashrafee told New Age on Monday.
‘There is no use looking that far. We will try to do what is required when the time comes but there is no use making lofty plans.
‘Instead we should concentrate on preparing us so that we can take those chances at the right moment without putting any pressure on our shoulder,’ he said.
Bangladesh currently hold number seventh in the ICC ODI ranking with 98 rating points. With Sri Lanka losing to Australia by 4-1 in recently they are just three points ahead of the Tigers.
The would be minimised with Bangladesh win over Afghanistan and England.
Afghanistan, currently 10-ranked ODI side, will play their maiden ODI series against Tigers from September 25 before England arrive on September 30.
Bangladesh earned number seventh spot in ODI rankings for the first time in 2015 that is considered to be one of the most successful years in their cricket calendar.
Apart from making their maiden appearance in the ICC World Cup 2015 down under, they also clinched series against Pakistan, India, South Africa and lowly ranked Zimbabwe.
Tigers already qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England and Wales but a good show now can help them to be comfortably placed for the next ICC Cricket World Cup.
England and the seven ICC ODI’s highest-ranked teams as on 30 September 30, 2017 will qualify directly for the biggest global 50-over tournament.
The remaining two sides will progress from the 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier scheduled in 2018.
-With New Age input
