KARACHI, Pakistan: England plus seven other top-ranked sides, looks as on September 30, 2017, to qualify directly for the ICC’s pinnacle 50-over tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday.
“Pakistan can gain as many as five points while England can earn two points if it wins 4-0,” said an ICC media release.
Root enters series as the highest-ranked batsman while Irfan is the highest-ranked bowler.
The 4-match One Day Internationals (ODIs) series explode into action at Sheikh Zayed Stadium Abu Dhabi on Wednesday in which the greet shirts bids to gain crucial points on the ICC ODI Team Rankings.
Eighth-ranked Pakistan is currently sitting on 88 points as compared to sixth-ranked England’s 100 points. With England, plus seven other top-ranked sides as on 30 September 2017, set to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, the only way Pakistan can move up the order is by winning matches against the higher-ranked sides.
As such, a 4-0 series win against England will earn Pakistan five points, while a 3-1 victory will mean a gain of three rankings points. It will earn only one point if the series ends in a two-all draw.
An England series win will mean Pakistan will lose points. If England sweeps the series, like it did in 2012, then Pakistan will drop to 86 points, while it will concede one point if England wins 3-1.
As far as England is concerned, it can rise to as high as 102 points, but will slip behind Bangladesh in seventh place by a fraction of a point, if it loses 4-0 and Bangladesh wins the third ODI against Zimbabwe on Monday.
Pakistan’s last series win against England was on home turf in December 2005 when it won 3-2.
The series permutations are:
Pakistan 4 England 0 – Pakistan 93 points England 95 points
Pakistan 3 England 1 – Pakistan 91 points England 96 points
Pakistan 2 England 2Â – Pakistan 89 points England 99 points
Pakistan 1 England 3Â – Pakistan 87 points England 101 points
Pakistan 0 England 4Â – Pakistan 86 points England 102 points
In the ICC ODI Player Rankings, no batsman from either side features in the top 10. Joe Root is the highest-ranked batsman in 11th position, followed by captain Eoin Morgan (21st) and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler (23rd).
Pakistan’s Muhammad Hafeez is 30th, while Ahmed Shehzad is 32nd.
AB de Villiers of South Africa is the number-one ranked batsman, while Virat Kohli of India is second and Kane Williamson of New Zealand third.
In the bowling chart, Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan, in 14th place, is the highest-ranked bowler from either side, followed by Moeen Ali of England (31st) and Wahab Riaz (49th).
Sunil Narine of the West Indies is the top-ranked bowler and he is followed by Mitchell Starc of Australia and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.
Meanwhile, the recently-concluded series between Sri Lanka and West Indies has resulted in gains for a number of players.
In the batting table, Marlon Samuels has moved up three places to 34th and Kusal Perera has climbed seven places to 43rd, while in the bowling, Suranga Lakmal has achieved a career-best ranking of 23rd after rising six places and Lasith Malinga has vaulted four places to 24th.
The 3-0 series win as earned Sri Lanka five points and it is now on 105 points, while the West Indies has slipped to 86 after dropping two points.
ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on November 9):
Rank     Team                  Points
1            Australia            127
2            India          114
3            South Africa     112
4            New Zealand     109
5            Sri Lanka       105
6            England         100
7            Bangladesh      96
8            Pakistan        88
9            West Indies      86
10          Zimbabwe       46
11       Ireland         46
12       Afghanistan      45
Source: APP
