Bangladesh lead Pakistan by five points in latest ICC ODI rankings

Dubai: Bangladesh made history in Dublin on Wednesday when they moved to sixth place in the ICC ODI Team Rankings for the first time following their historic five-wicket win over fourth-ranked New Zealand.

The first away victory against the Black Caps has put Mashrafe Mortaza’s team at par with Sri Lanka on 93 points, but when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Bangladesh are ranked above Sri Lanka as they have 93.3 points as compared to Sri Lanka’s 92.8.

This is the first time Bangladesh have been ranked ahead of three former world champions - Sri Lanka, Pakistan the West Indies.

This timely boost will further provide impetus to the young Bangladesh side which will go head to head with England in the ICC Champions Trophy opener on June 1 as the sixth-ranked side and ahead of two former world champions in fray.

Bangladesh now lead eighth-ranked Pakistan by five points, while they are ahead of ninth-ranked West Indies by 14 points. With September 30, 2017 being the cut-off date for direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Bangladesh are in a strong position to be one of the seven automatic qualifiers apart from hosts England to make it to the pinnacle event.