Bangladesh eye rise in ODI rankings

DHAKA, April 22 (NsNewsWire) — With one eye on the ICC ODI rankings, Bangladesh spin bowling coach Ruwan Kalpage hinted that they are unlikely to tinker with their winning combination for the third and final ODI against Pakistan. He also stressed that gaining automatic qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup were their short and long-term targets.

“It is important for us to better our one-day ranking,” Kalpage said. “So this is not the time to do experiments. We are always looking forward to the ranking. I think the game tomorrow is really important for Bangladesh and it is important for the team to win every game at the moment, reports http://www.espncricinfo.com

“That way we can only come up in one-day ranking. I think it is a good opportunity and if we have this winning combination going, it is good for the future of the Bangladesh one-day team.”

Currently ninth in the table, Bangladesh gained three rating points after taking a 2-0 lead in the series and will reach 81 points if they can make it 3-0. After a meeting in November last year, the ICC confirmed that the top eight sides on the team rankings on September 30 in 2015 will qualify for Champions Trophy in England in 2017.