Although hopes were raised, albeit for all of four hours on April 25, of a climb up the rankings ladder for the Bangladesh ODI team, the Tigers remain at seventh spot in the updated International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings. Their T20I ranking remains at a much less impressive 10th, one place below ICC Associate Member nation Afghanistan.
In the rankings cycle that ended on May 1 Bangladesh, who are on 98 ranking points, are comfortably clear of eighth-placed West Indies on 88 points.
On April 25, upon returning from the ICC meeting in Dubai, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon had declared that Bangladesh were odds-on favourites to be one of the automatic qualifiers because the new rankings would see them placed at number five in the ODI table. Some premature celebratory messages on social media later it emerged that it was all a misunderstanding and that, as can best be surmised, the president was only considering results from the last two seasons — that too at 100 per cent weighting. No one from the BCB could lend any clarity during those four hours and it took the ICC media manager to chime in with the facts.
As things stand, Bangladesh are still in line for automatic qualification into the 2019 50-over World Cup to be held in England. The next edition of the global event is set to be a 10-team affair with the top seven-ranked teams — the ranking cut-off for which is August 31, 2017 — along with hosts England gaining automatic qualification.
As the rankings are calculated on a three-season cycle with only results in the most recent season given 100 per cent weighting and results of the previous two weighted at 50 per cent, the next season will be most crucial for Bangladesh as far as automatic qualification to the World Cup is concerned.
Meanwhile, Australia have retained their place at the top of the ODI rankings with New Zealand in second place. However, the Kiwis have jumped two places to rule the roost in T20Is, ahead of India – who have also fallen to fourth in ODIs — by a mere 0.21 points, while Australia are languishing in sixth.
