Lahore: Bangladesh faces India in the three-match One-Day Internationals (ODIs) series in Mirpur on Thursday knowing that a series win will give it a boost in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as two places in the coveted ICC Champions Trophy 2017 are still up for grabs.
Host England, plus the seven next highest-ranked sides on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as on 30 September 2015, will progress to the tournament, which will be staged from 1 to 19 June in England and Wales.
Bangladesh is currently level with the West Indies on 88 points but is ranked below the West Indies in eighth position, while Pakistan is one point behind in ninth spot. If Bangladesh wins the series 3-0, then it will move to 96 points while a 2-1 win will see the host rise to 93 points. Even if Bangladesh loses the series 2-1, it will be enough to put it ahead of the West Indies in seventh place by a fraction of a point.
MS Dhoni’s side, in contrast, can reduce leader Australia’s advantage to 10 points should it sweep the series three-nil. In this scenario, Bangladesh will slip to ninth position on 96 points.
If India wins the series 2-1, it will remain on 117 points, while a 2-1 loss will mean it will join New Zealand on 115 points but will still be ranked above Brendon McCullum’s side, which is currently in the middle of a highly entertaining series with England and holds a 2-1 lead after the first three games. The series concludes in Chester-le-Street on 20 June.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli enters the forthcoming series as the highest-ranked batsman on either side in fourth place in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen. The Delhi-born right-hander is one of the three India batsmen inside the top 10 alongside Shikhar Dhawan (seventh) and Dhoni (ninth).
Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh’s highest-ranked batsman in 18th position, five points adrift of England’s Jos Buttler, while much will depend on Tamim Iqbal (27th), Shakib Al Hasan (33rd) and Nasir Hossain (42nd) as the hosts bid to create daylight between the West Indies and Pakistan.
In the Reliance ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Bangladesh’s Shakib, who hit the 150-cap mark last time out against Pakistan, has seventh-ranked Saeed Ajmal in his sights. The left-arm spinner will also be aiming to hit the 200-wicket mark during the series as he currently stands on 195. In eighth place, he is the highest-ranked bowler heading into the series.
However, India has four bowlers inside the top 20, with Ravichandran Ashwin (12th) leading the way. Five points then separate Umesh Yadav (16th), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (17th) and Ravindra Jadeja (18th).
The Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders still sees Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan lead the way with a six-point gap over second-placed Shakib, who, in turn, holds a 20-point lead over Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.
ENGLAND V NEW ZEALAND
Meanwhile, with New Zealand holding a 2-1 advantage over England with two games remaining, several players have made significant advances on both sides.
Black Caps’ Ross Taylor leads the way as he has climbed to a career-high eighth position to date following scores of 57, 119 not out and 110 in the series so far. Kane Williamson has moved up a position to sixth after accumulating scores of 45, 93 and 118.
England players making positive advances include Joe Root, who has joined Rohit Sharma in 12th position after scoring 164 runs in three games. Jos Buttler has also leapt nine spots to 17th after accumulating 183 runs to date, while England skipper Eoin Morgan, who is third on the list of highest run-getters after three matches following scores of 50, 88 and 71, has vaulted 11 places to 34th position.
New Zealand’s left-arm fast bowler, Trent Boult, has continued his fine run of form in 50-over cricket, which saw him selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup Team of the Tournament. His six wickets for a miserly 108 runs to date has lifted him up three spots to joint-second alongside South Africa’s Imran Tahir.
England bowler Steven Finn’s five wickets to date have also pushed him up two places to 13th, while Tim Southee (up one to 19th) and Matt Henry (up 12 to 53rd) are also on the rise.
With the fourth (Trent Bridge) and fifth (Chester-le-Street) ODIs down for decision over the coming days, further movements are expected on both sides.
Upcoming fixtures
Bangladesh v India:
18 Jun – 1st ODI, Mirpur (d/n)
21 Jun – 2nd ODI, Mirpur (d/n)
24 Jun – 3rd ODI, Mirpur (d/n)
England v New Zealand:
17 June – 4th ODI, Nottingham (d/n)
19 Jun – 5th ODI, Durham (d)
Reliance ICC ODI Championship table (as on 16 June, after first three England-New Zealand matches and ahead of Bangladesh-India series):
Rank Team Points
1 Australia 129
2 India 117
3 New Zealand 115
4 South Africa 112
5 Sri Lanka 106
6 England 95
7 West Indies 88
8 Bangladesh 88
9 Pakistan 87
10 Ireland 50
11 Zimbabwe 44
12 Afghanistan 41
Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (after first three England-New Zealand matches and ahead of Bangladesh-India series):
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
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 822 51.47 886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014
5 ( – ) T. Dilshan SL 793 39.65 802 v Sco at Hobart 2015
6 (+1) K. Williamson NZ 775 46.69 789 v Aus at Auckland 2015
7 (-1) Shikhar Dhawan Ind 756 43.98 794 v SA at Melbourne 2015
8 (+3) Ross Taylor NZ 736! 43.01 736 v Eng at Southampton 2015
9 (-1) MS Dhoni Ind 731 52.46 836 v Aus at Delhi 2009
10 (-1) Glenn Maxwell Aus 720 35.05 724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
12= ( – ) Rohit Sharma Ind 685 39.43 686 v Ban at Melbourne 2015
(+4) Joe Root Eng 685 40.95 696 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015
17 (+9) Jos Buttler Eng 668 34.02 680 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015
18 (-1) M. Rahim Ban 663! 31.37 663 v Pak at Mirpur 2015
21 (-1) Suresh Raina Ind 653 36.16 669 v Eng at Dharamsala 2013
22 ( – ) B. McCullum NZ 635 30.40 685 v Eng at Auckland 2013
24 (-3) Martin Guptill NZ 634 39.30 684 v Zim at Napier 2012
27 (+1) Tamim Iqbal Ban 621 31.46 637 v WI at Khulna 2012
33 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 589 34.80 683 v Pak at Mirpur 2012
34 (+11) Eoin Morgan Ire/Eng 588 36.37 690 v Aus at The Oval 2010
35 ( – ) Ajinkya Rahane Ind 580 31.05 591 v UAE at Perth 2015
37 (-1) Luke Ronchi Aus/NZ 577 29.45 617 v SL at Christchurch 2015
38 (-4) Corey Anderson NZ 575* 35.30 604 v Ind at Hamilton 2014
42 (-1) Nasir Hossain Ban 557* 34.15 585 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013
47 (-4) Grant Elliott NZ 547 34.79 556 v Aus at Melbourne 2015
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( – ) Mitchell Starc Aus 783! 18.33 4.70 783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015
2= (+3) Trent Boult NZ 734* 24.08 4.64 738 v Eng at The Oval 2015
( – ) Imran Tahir SA 734* 20.51 4.35 735 v SL at Sydney 2015
4 (-1) Dale Steyn SA 717 25.57 4.81 746 v Ind at Durban 2013
5 (-1) Sunil Narine WI 709 26.49 4.10 791 v SL at Jamaica 2013
6 (-1) M. Johnson Aus 693 25.26 4.83 724 v Ban at Darwin 2008
7 ( – ) Saeed Ajmal Pak 682 22.73 4.18 810 v SA at Centurion 2013
8 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 676 28.25 4.31 717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
9 (+1) Morne Morkel SA 666 23.98 4.90 717 v SL at East London 2012
10 (-1) James Anderson Eng 657 29.22 4.92 719 v SA at The Oval 2013
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
12 ( – ) R. Ashwin Ind 621 31.93 4.85 691 v SL at Hambantota 2012
13 (+2) Steven Finn Eng 615 28.30 5.01 755 v NZ at Auckland 2013
16 ( – ) Umesh Yadav Ind 599 31.44 5.74 600 v Ban at Melbourne 2015
17 ( – ) B. Kumar Ind 598 36.76 4.61 657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014
18 (+1) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 594 33.19 4.84 738 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013
19 (+1) Tim Southee NZ 591 31.16 5.30 638 v Eng at Wellington 2015
23 ( – ) M. Mortaza Ban 582 30.73 4.71 653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009
44 (-9) M.McClenaghan NZ 503 27.54 6.08 603 v SL at Christchurch 2015
46 (+3) Arafat Sunny Ban 499*! 20.81 4.28 499 v Pak at Mirpur 2015
48 (+2) Mohit Sharma Ind 495*! 31.26 4.98 495 v Aus at Sydney 2015
49 (-4) Chris Jordan Eng 494* 30.64 5.84 513 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2014
53 (+12) Matt Henry NZ 484* 21.88 5.31 496 v SL at Hamilton 2015
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( – ) T. Dilshan SL 404 415 v Sco at Hobart 2015
2 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 398 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
3 ( – ) Angelo Mathews SL 378 427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
4 ( – ) James Faulkner Aus 361*/ ! 361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015
5 ( – ) Mohammad Hafeez Pak 343 438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after a minimum of 40 started innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating after he has conceded 1,500 runs.