A win against India might seal a World Cup spot for Bangladesh

As Pakistan became the fourth and final team to qualify for the semi-final, we are done with the league stage game in Champions Trophy 2017. It ended with a lot of surprises though, and one of the biggest surprises going into the semi-final for a cricket fan would definitely be Bangladesh making into top four.

By a scintillating win against New Zealand, they ensured their place and will take on defending champions India in Birmingham on 15^th June. Though India has been the dominant team thus far as they bat very deep, their bowlers have bowled beautifully and never really been threatened but they will be up against a team who have played up to their standards and have the ability to upset any team on their day.

If we look at it by any conventional metric as the number of runs scored, strike-rates, wickets or any other traditional method, we feel the minnows have no chance to win against India but Bangladesh are the great contrarian of world cricket and that gives them a chance to improve their ODI rankings as well.

What will happen?

As they say, the Tigers are presently ranked number 6^th with 95 points, ahead of other two Asian sides, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

What adds a cherry to the cake for Bangladesh is, if they manage to upstage India by any chance, the gap between them and Sri Lanka and Pakistan will widen which gives them a chance to qualify for 2019 World Cup directly as the cutoff date is 30^th September 2017.

If they rediscover their strength and by any means play by the standards they played against New Zealand, they definitely have a chance to beat India and get important 2 points which eventually make it 97 points before finals.

Possible ranking scenarios:

•  If Bangladesh lose to India in semi-final, they will be on 94 points
• If Bangladesh beat India in semi-final and England in final, they will be on 99 points
• If Bangladesh lose to England in final, they will finish on 96 points.
• If Bangladesh beat India in semi-final and Pakistan in final, they will finish on 98 points.
• If Bangladesh lose to Pakistan in final, they will finish on 95 points.