BCB braces for 'slim chance' of ranking jolt

After meeting ICC officials regarding Bangladesh's 2017 Champions Trophy qualification, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury has said the board is considering a contingency plan should there be any late changes in their ODI ranking.

Bangladesh, who have 93 points, sit seventh on the table with West Indies five points below them at No 8 and Pakistan a point below West Indies at No 9. In August, West Indies and Pakistan will be involved in a tri-series also featuring Zimbabwe.

Nizamuddin's statement comes exactly 24 hours after BCB director Jalal Yunus said that the the system of organising bilateral series had "gone bad" since the ICC stopped getting involved in the Future Tours Programme.

Nizamuddin was BCB's only representative in the ICC annual meeting in Barbados last week where he discussed Bangladesh's ranking situation in light of West Indies confirming their participation in the tri-series in Zimbabwe. He said only a specific set of results for Pakistan in their five-match against Sri Lanka and in the tri-series in Zimbabwe would disturb Bangladesh in the rankings.

"We are currently at No 7 in the ICC ODI rankings so we are hoping to participate in the next Champions Trophy," Nizamuddin said. "Pakistan and West Indies are below us in the present ODI rankings. Matches between Pakistan and West Indies will have some effect in our ranking but because there is a five-point gap between teams ranked No 7 and 8, we think that chances are very slim for them.

"We can't just have a back-up plan. We need to find a team that is free and willing to play. We are still working on [a back-up plan]. If there is a need, we will proceed accordingly."

In April this year, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had spoken about Bangladesh hosting a four-nation tournament involving West Indies, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, to be tentatively held in November. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Bangladesh changed tack about participating in this tournament after they had beaten Pakistan 3-0 and moved up to No. 8, a few weeks after Nazmul's statement.

When asked whether Bangladesh were linked to this tri-series, Nizamuddin only said Bangladesh should focus on playing against teams such as South Africa, ranked fourth with 112 points, rather than lower-ranked teams.

"We have to keep in mind that in terms of ranking, the easy calculation is that when a higher-ranked team beats a lower ranked team, there isn't much variation in points earned. In that case, since West Indies and Pakistan are below us, I think we are on the safe side.

"We should be more focused on the South Africa series which is coming up shortly rather than playing matches against teams ranked below us."

For Bangladesh to slip out of the top eight, Pakistan will have to beat Sri Lanka convincingly but lose to West Indies in the Zimbabwe tri-series.

"There is nothing called a guarantee in this situation," Nizamuddin said. "Their chances are very slim. Pakistan have to win a number of matches because they are below West Indies."