Pakistan must avoid whitewash against Bangladesh to maintain ODI standing

Pakistan currently lies in seventh spot on 95 ratings points and has a chance to reduce England’s six point advantage by one point if it wins the series 3-0. A 2-1 victory would see Azhar Ali’s men remain on 95 points.

While Australia maintained the top spot, India also retained the number two spot in the rankings list.

Bangladesh knows that it cannot move up the table irrespective of the result, but a 3-0 whitewash in its favour would see it move to 81 points. In that scenario, the West Indies would move level with Pakistan on 92 points, but the men from the Caribbean would hold a slender 0.13 point advantage when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

A 2-1 win for Mashrafe Mortaza’s Bangladesh would see the hosts move up three points to 79. Although Pakistan would retain its seventh place position following that series scoreline, it would drop two points to 93.

Meanwhile, Mushfiqur Rahim of Bangladesh goes into the forthcoming series as the highest ranked batsman in 30th place in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings and is one of five batsmen on either side inside the top 50. Rahim has climbed the rankings steadily since making his debut in 2006 and lies one place, and two points shy, of Australia’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 winning captain Michael Clarke.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez (33rd) and Bangladesh trio Shakib Al Hasan (36th), Mahmudullah (45th) and Tamim Iqbal (48th) are the other prominent batsmen likely to feature in the series.

On the Reliance ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal will go into the series as the top-ranked bowler in 3rd place, 16 points behind South Africa’s Imran Tahir. Tenth placed Shakib Al Hasan will be looking to gain ground on Proteas fast bowler Morne Morkel, who is currently seven points ahead of him. Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez (16th) is the only other bowler from either side inside the top 20, while Mashrafe Mortaza (26th) and Junaid Khan (39th) are also likely to feature in the three-match series.

The ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders sees Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan lead the way with a significant 16-point gap over Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, who is the top ranked all-rounder on either side heading into the series. Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez lies in fourth place on 368 points, 10 points adrift of Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews.

Upcoming fixtures (Bangladesh v Pakistan):
17 Apr – 1st ODI, Mirpur
19 Apr – 2nd ODI, Mirpur
22 Apr – 3rd ODI, Mirpur

Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 15 April, ahead of Bangladesh-Pakistan series):

Rank     Team               Rating    
1            Australia              122     
2            India                     116      
3            South Africa        112      
4            Sri Lanka             108      
5            New Zealand       107      
6            England                101        
7            Pakistan                95        
8            West Indies          92        
9            Bangladesh          76        
10          Zimbabwe            50        
11          Ireland                  44        
12          Afghanistan         38         

(Developed by David Kendix)

Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 15 April, ahead of Bangladesh-Pakistan series):

Batsmen

Rank     Player                    Team     Points      Ave        HS Rating
   1           AB de Villiers        SA           902!       53.65     902 v NZ at Auckland 2015
   2           K. Sangakkara     SL           860        41.98     861 v Sco at Hobart 2015
   3           Hashim Amla       SA           828        55.26     901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012
   4           Virat Kohli            Ind          822        51.47     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014
   5           T. Dilshan              SL           793        39.65     802 v Sco at Hobart 2015
   6           Shikhar Dhawan  Ind          756        43.98     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015
   7           Kane Williamson NZ          733        44.76     789 v Aus at Auckland 2015
   8           MS Dhoni              Ind          731        52.46     836 v Aus at Delhi 2009
   9           Glenn Maxwell     Aus         720        35.05     724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015
  10         George Bailey       Aus         697        42.02     867 v SA at Harare 2014

Selected Rankings

Rank      Player                Team     Points          Ave        HS Rating
  30         M. Rahim              Ban        619        30.00     627 v Eng at Adelaide 2015
  33         M. Hafeez             Pak         607        31.10     665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014
  36         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        589        34.77     683 v Pak at Mirpur 2012
  45         Mahmudullah      Ban        564        35.04     567 v NZ at Hamilton 2015
  48         Tamim Iqbal        Ban        557        29.67     637 v WI at Khulna 2012
  54         Nasir Hossain       Ban        551*      34.06     585 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013
  92         Fawad Alam         Pak         430*      45.14     481 v SA at Dubai 2010
  96         Haris Sohail          Pak         418*!    32.40     418 v Aus at Adelaide 2015

Bowlers

Rank     Player                    Team     Points     Ave        Econ      HS Rating
   1           Mitchell Starc       Aus         783!       18.33     4.70       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015
   2           Imran Tahir          SA           734*      20.51     4.35       735 v SL at Sydney 2015
   3           Saeed Ajmal         Pak         718        22.18     4.13       810 v SA at Centurion 2013
   4           Dale Steyn            SA           717        25.57     4.81       746 v Ind at Durban 2013
   5           Sunil Narine          WI          709        26.49     4.10       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013
   6=        M. Johnson           Aus         693        25.26     4.83       724 v Ban at Darwin 2008
                Trent Boult           NZ          693*!    25.00     4.57       693 v Aus at Melbourne 2015
   8           James Anderson  Eng         670        29.22     4.92       719 v SA at The Oval 2013
   9           Morne Morkel      SA           666        23.98     4.90       717 v SL at East London 2012
  10         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        659        28.31     4.30       717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

Selected Rankings

Rank     Player                    Team     Points      Ave        Econ      HS Rating
  16         M. Hafeez             Pak         607        35.01     4.06       769 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
  26         M. Mortaza          Ban        581        30.71     4.70       653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009
  39         Junaid Khan         Pak         534        25.90     5.14       655 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013
  62         Rubel Hossain      Ban        473        32.87     5.62       514 v Pak at Mirpur 2011 
  72         Wahab Riaz         Pak         442        30.20     5.63       484 v WI at Barbados 2011
  81         Mahmudullah      Ban        422        43.51     5.10       480 v SL at Mirpur 2014
  96         Arafat Sunny       Ban        397*      20.43     4.25       424 v Zim at Mirpur 2014

All-rounders

Rank     Player                  Team     Points       HS Rating
   1           T. Dilshan              SL           404        415 v Sco at Hobart 2015
   2           Shakib Al Hasan Ban        388        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
   3           Angelo Mathews  SL           378        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
   4           M. Hafeez             Pak         368        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
   5           James Faulkner    Aus         361*/!    361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after a minimum of 40 started innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating after he has conceded 1,500 runs.

!indicates career-highest rating