Golden chance for Tigers…..

Golden chance for Tigers to improve ODI ranking

A golden chance to move to the sixth place of ICC ODI rankings beckons Bangladesh as they need to win both of the upcoming home series against Afghanistan and England.

Currently ranked seven, Bangladesh now have 98 rating points, just three points behind the sixth ranked Sri Lanka. Mashrafe and company need to whitewash Afghanistan in three-match series while any margin of victory against England would help them leapfrog Sri Lanka, an ICC press release said.
Despite a series loss against Australia, Sri Lanka has retained its sixth position but has dropped a point to finish on 101 points.
ICC press release stated: “Sri Lanka’s one-point drop will interest seventh-placed Bangladesh, which is now just three points behind its Asian rival and has two upcoming three-match ODI series each against Afghanistan and England coming up. If Bangladesh wins all the three matches against Afghanistan, plus manages a series win against England, then it will achieve its highest-ever ranking of sixth.”
The form of Bangladesh at the home soil provides the players a hope to materialise the dream to move up in the rankings even though they haven’t been playing any ODI matches this year.
Bangladesh so far have been unbeaten in any bilateral ODI series at home yard since December 2014. The dream-run started with the series win against Zimbabwe and then they beat giants like Pakistan, India and South Africa before crushing Zimbabwe again in the last part of 2015.
It is quite possible that Bangladesh could whitewash Afghanistan, the ranked 10th team with 49 points but given the form, England would be tough to beat.
England lately showed how well-composed team they are in the ODI format as they outclassed Pakistan by 4-1 in the just concluded ODI series. They also created a history of making an ODI record 444 runs in a match, indicating they are in the top of their game.
Nonetheless, Bangladesh can hope for the best given their form at their own backyard.