Bangladesh, Pakistan have one eye on Champions Trophy

The battle for the final two available places in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 will hot up when Bangladesh squares off against South Africa in the opening match of the three-match series in Mirpur on Friday and Sri Lanka hosts Pakistan in the first of the five matches in Dambulla on Saturday.

On 93 points, Bangladesh currently sits pretty in seventh position on the ICC ODI Team Rankings and needs one win to retain its pre-series points. A failure to win any matches will result in it dropping to 90 points, according to a news release of International Cricket Council (ICC).

On the other side of the coin, if the Tigers maintain the form they showed against Pakistan and India, and win the series against South Africa, then they will cement its qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. A 2-1 series win will put Bangladesh on 96 points, while the Tigers will vault to 99 points if they win all the three matches.

As far as South Africa is concerned, a 3-0 victory will be needed to move it up from fourth in the table.

Pakistan is currently in ninth position with 87 rating points and will move ahead of the West Indies (88 points) by a fraction of a point if it wins the series by 3-2 or better. Pakistan can rise to as high as 94 points if it wins all the matches, but will drop to as low as 84 points if it fails to register a win.

For Sri Lanka, a 5-0 win will put it on 108 points while a 5-0 defeat will see it slip to 100 points.

With only seven teams apart from the host England being eligible to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to be staged in the United Kingdom from June 1 to 19, 2017, there is extra context to the matches between Bangladesh and South Africa and Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The cut-off date to determine the participating teams is September 30, 2015.

Bangladesh, West Indies and Pakistan are separated by just six points and with the West Indies not immediately involved in any series, if Bangladesh and Pakistan perform strongly in the forthcoming series, they can strengthen their claims for a place in the elite tournament.

The West Indies won the tournament in 2004 and together with Pakistan has featured in every event since it was launched 1998 as ICC Knock-Out. Bangladesh’s last appearance in the ICC Champions Trophy was in India in 2006.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe takes on a new-look India in a three-match series from Friday. Second-ranked India (115 points) leads 11th-ranked Zimbabwe (44 points) by 71 rating points and this gap means it is expected for India to win the series convincingly. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure to win the series convincingly will mean India will drop points.

If India wins the series 2-1, it will concede two points to drop to 113 while it will surrender four points and slip to 111 points if it loses the series 2-1. As South Africa will move up one point to 113 if it wins all the three matches against Bangladesh, it is important for India to achieve a clean sweep in the series against Zimbabwe so that it can continue to occupy second position, even if it is by a fraction of a point.

The following are the permutations of the forthcoming series:

Bangladesh (93 pts) v South Africa (112 pts)

·       If BD wins 3-0, then BD 99 pts, SA 107 pts

·       If BD wins 2-1, then BD 96 pts, SA 110 pts

·       If SA wins 2-1, then BD 93 pts, SA 111 pts

·       If SA wins 3-0, then BD 90 pts, SA 113 pts

Zimbabwe (44 pts) v India (115 pts)

·       If Zim wins 3-0, then Zim 52 pts, Ind 109 pts

·       If Zim wins 2-1, then Zim 49 pts, Ind 111 pts

·       If Ind wins 2-1, then Zim 46 pts, Ind 113 pts

·       If Ind wins 3-0, then Zim 43 pts, Ind 115 pts

Sri Lanka (106 pts) v Pakistan (87 pts)

·       If SL wins 5-0, then SL 108 pts, Pak 84 pts

·       If SL wins 4-1, then SL 107 pts, Pak 86 pts

·       If SL wins 3-2, then SL 105 pts, Pak 88 pts

·       If Pak wins 3-2, then SL 103 pts, Pak 90 pts

·       If Pak wins 4-1, then SL 102 pts, Pak 92 pts

·       If Pak wins 5-0, then SL 100 pts, Pak 94 pts