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Bangladesh needs to win one game against South Africa to retain pre-series points
Pakistan must win series against Sri Lanka to move ahead of eighth-ranked West Indies
India needs to win all three matches against Zimbabwe to be assured of retaining second place
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-One-Day International series in Mirpur on Friday and Sri Lanka hosts Pakistan in the first of 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 victory to retain its pre-series points. Failure to win any matches will result in it dropping to 90 points.
On the other side of the coin, if it maintains the form it showed against Pakistan and India, and wins the series against South Africa, then it will cement its qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
A 2-1 series win will put Bangladesh on 96 points, while it will vault to 99 points if it wins all the three matches.
As for South Africa, a 3-0 victory is needed to move it up from fourth in the table.
Ninth-ranked Pakistan is on 87 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 if it fails to register a victory.
For Sri Lanka, a 5-0 victory will put it on 108 points while a 5-0 will defeat will see it slip to 100 points.
With only seven teams, plus host England, eligible to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, to be staged in the United Kingdom from June 1 to 19, there is extra context to the matches between Bangladesh and South Africa and Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The cut-off date determining 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 claim 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 1998 when it was launched 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 ratings and this gap means it is expected 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 and 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 a 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 so that it can continue to occupy second place, even if it is by a fraction of a point.
Following are the permutations of the forthcoming series:
Bangladesh (93 pts) v South Africa (112 pts)
If Bangladesh wins 3-0, then Bangladesh will have 99 pts, South Africa 107
If Bangladesh wins 2-1, then it will have 96 pts, SA 110
If South Africa wins 2-1, then Bangladesh will have 93 pts, SA 111
If South Africa wins 3-0, then Bangladesh will have 90 pts, SA 113
Zimbabwe (44 pts) v India (115 pts)
If Zimbabwe wins 3-0, then it will have 52 pts, India 109
If Zimbabwe wins 2-1, then it will have 49 pts, India 111
If India wins 2-1, then Zimbabwe will have 46 pts, India 113
If India wins 3-0, then Zimbabwe will have 43 pts, India 115 pts
Sri Lanka (106 pts) v Pakistan (87 pts)
If Sri Lanka wins 5-0, then it will have 108 pts, Pakistan 84
If Sri Lanka wins 4-1, then it will have 107 pts, Pakistan 86
If Sri Lanka wins 3-2, then it will have 105 pts, Pakistan 88
If Pakistan wins 3-2, then Sri Lanka will have 103 pts, Pakistan 90
If Pakistan wins 4-1, then Sri Lanka will have 102 pts, Pakistan 92
If Pakistan wins 5-0, then Sri Lanka will have 100 pts, Pakistan 94
Meanwhile, in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, South Africa captain AB de Villiers is number-one ranked, followed by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.
However, in the absence of these two batsmen, South Africa’s third-ranked Hashim Amla will feature as the highest-ranked batsman in the forthcoming series.
Fifth-ranked Tillakaratne Dilshan is the next highest-ranked batsman, trailing Amla by 35 points.
In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers, South Africa’s second-ranked Imran Tahir will aim to narrow the gap with Mitchell Starc when he takes the field against Bangladesh. The wrist spinner is 49 points behind the left-arm fast bowler.
Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is the next high-ranked bowler to feature in the forthcoming series. The number-one ranked all-rounder occupies eighth position on the bowling chart.