Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on Tuesday said his statement regarding Bangladesh playing directly in the 2019 World Cup is based on the current Future Tours Programme of the International Cricket Council.
“I am confident that we would be among the top eight teams in the ICC ODI rankings by the cut-off date of September 30, 2017. I believe by this time our position will not get worse. If anything, we can improve our position,” Nazmul told the media in Fatullah.
“According to our calculations, we will not go down in the rankings. Because in accordance with the ICC's FTP, we are all set to play directly in the World Cup. If we play really bad in those tournaments, then only our place might come under threat. But if our recent performances are anything to go by, we can certainly be hopeful,” he said.
Meanwhile, when queried, the ICC said, “As explained a number of times in various team rankings releases, hosts England plus the other seven highest-ranked sides on the ICC ODI team rankings as on 30 September 2017 will qualify automatically for the ICC CWC 2019.
“The bottom four sides on the ICC ODI team rankings plus six sides from the World Cricket League will play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 and the top two sides from this event will complete the 10-team line-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.”
Bangladesh are currently at sixth position in the current ICC ODI rankings with 95 rating points. West Indies are lying at seventh position with 88 points and Pakistan are eighth with the same number of points. The latest ODI rankings were released on Sunday.
Bangladesh will play three ODIs against New Zealand in December this year before contesting a tri-nation series alongside Ireland and New Zealand in May 2017.
Pakistan will play six ODIs against Australia in December this year.
On the other hand, the West Indies will play three ODIs against England in March next year and five ODIs against the same opposition five months later.
Monday, July 20, 2026
