3 ODIs v Zimbabwe A Must win for Pakistan to retain points in the ICC ODI Team Ranking

Published - 25 May 2015, 17:58 IST | Updated - 25 May 2015, 17:58 IST

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3 ODIs v Zimbabwe A Must win for Pakistan to retain points in the ICC ODI Team Ranking: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the ICC ODI team Rankings along with the Top players in the ICC ODI Batsmen’s Ranking, Top 10 ODI Bowlers and the Top 10 ODI All-rounder’s.

Pakistan will now be playing Zimbabwe in the three match ODI series after the home team beat the visitor’s 2-0 in the T20 series. A clear win in the ODIs will give Pak a good chance to retain its ranking, as the two teams are at a difference of just a couple of places in the ODI team ranking.

Pakistan will have to sweep the three-ODI series against Zimbabwe, starting in Lahore on 26 May, to ensure that it doesn’t drop points on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings.

Ninth-ranked Pakistan will start the series with a difference of 42 points relative to 11^th-ranked Zimbabwe 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 Pakistan will drop points.

Pakistan will stay on 87 points if it wins 3-0, but will drop to 85 points if it wins the series 2-1. Zimbabwe’s 2-1 series win will mean Pakistan will slide to 83 points.

With only one point separating seventh-ranked West Indies from Pakistan, and England plus the seven next highest-ranked sides on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as on 30 September 2015 to progress to the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Pakistan cannot afford to lose any matches against Zimbabwe.

After this series against Zimbabwe, Pakistan has a scheduled five-ODI series against Sri Lanka in July while Bangladesh has home ODIs against India and South Africa. The West Indies has no series scheduled until the cut-off date of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to be staged in UK from 1 to 19 June.

Meanwhile, players from both the sides will be aiming to improve their rankings on the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings.

In the batting table, no batsman from either side features inside the top 30 and, as such, Ahmed Shehzad/Mohammad Hafeez in 33^rd/38^th position will start off as the highest-ranked batsmen.

Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams (50^th), captain Hamilton Mazakadza (60^th) and Elton Chigumbura (65^th) are their side’s highest-ranked batsmen.

In the bowlers’ chart, Pakistan has one bowler inside the top 20 – Hafeez (19^th) – who is also the highest-ranked all-rounder (in fifth place) from either side.

Series schedule:

26 May – 1^st ODI, Lahore (d/n)

29 May – 2^nd ODI, Lahore (d/n)

31 May – 3^rd ODI, Lahore (d/n)

RELIANCE ICC ODI RANKINGS (as on 25 May, before the start of Pakistan-Zimbabwe series)

Rank Team Points

1 Australia 129

2 India 117

3 New Zealand 116

4 South Africa 112

5 Sri Lanka 106

6 England 94