Tigers aiming for improved ICC ranking

Cricket365
April 23, 2015

Bangladesh are looking to whitewash Pakistan in their three-match ODI series on Wednesday, with the hopes of making big gains so that they can advance up the ICC rankings in the near future.

The Tigers are ranked ninth in ODIs right now, and are well behind the West Indies a spot above them, but having already won the series against Pakistan, for the first time ever, they're eager to keep that going.

Spin bowling coach Ruwan Kalpage said: "It is important for us to better our one-day ranking. So this is not the time to do experiments. We are always looking forward to the ranking.

"I think the game tomorrow is really important for Bangladesh and it is important for the team to win every game at the moment.

"That way we can only come up in one-day ranking. I think it is a good opportunity and if we have this winning combination going, it is good for the future of the Bangladesh one-day team."

Kalpage was also pleased about how many of the players could contribute with the ball, taking the pressure off the likes of Shakib and Mashrafe Mortaza, and keeping the batsmen guessing.

He said: "When picking a team you have to make sure it is balanced and the captain has more options. In the last match, other than [Arafat] Sunny and Shakib [Al Hasan], none of them bowled ten overs.

"As a team we have done really well so when the captain has options, it is good for the team. Shakib and Nasir [Hossain] playing as batsman who can also bowl well, it is really good for the team.

"We are hoping to get Sabbir [Rahman] also to bowl to power the T20 team so then we will have three good batsmen who can also bowl well setting a good balance."