Bangladesh ahead of 3 ex-world champs
Tigers reach new height in ODI rankings
Sports Reporter
Bangladesh is ranked ahead of three former world champions Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies, a press release sent by International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed yesterday.
Bangladesh made history in Dublin on Wednesday when it moved to sixth place in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings for the first time following its five wickets victory over fourth-ranked New Zealand in Dublin.
The victory has put Bangladesh at par with Sri Lanka on 93 points, but when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Bangladesh is ranked above Sri Lanka as it has 93.3 points as compared to Sri Lankas 92.8.
This is the first time Bangladesh has been ranked ahead of three former world champions - Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
This timely boost in ranking will further provide impetus to the young Bangladesh side which will go head to head with England in the ICC Champions Trophy opener on 1 June as the sixth-ranked side and ahead of two former world champions in the fray Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Bangladesh now leads eighth-ranked Pakistan by five points, while it is ahead of ninth-ranked West Indies by 14 points. With 30 September 2017 being the cut-off date for direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Bangladesh is in a strong position to be one of the seven automatic qualifiers apart from host England to make it to the pinnacle event.
However after the successful mission in Ireland, Bangladesh had already reached Oval in England. They will start their practice session for the ICC Champions Trophy from today.
