Bangladesh close in on England in rankings with ODI World Cup 2027 qualification in sight

On Thursday, Bangladesh won the third and last ODI against New Zealand in Chattogram, making them the series winners by a score of 2-1. They got four more rating points in the team rankings with this series win, and they also made the gap bigger with the West Indies, who are currently in 10th place.

For those who don't know, the ODI rankings are very important for full-member countries to get directly into the World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia next year. As the hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe have automatically qualified for the tournament. Namibia, on the other hand, is not a full-member nation and is playing in qualification tournaments. As of March 2027, the top eight teams, other than South Africa and Zimbabwe, will go straight to the mega event.

South Africa is fifth in the rankings and unlikely to drop below eighth in the next 12 months and the ninth-placed team will also qualify directly for the World Cup. Here is where the bottom three teams will battle it out for the next 11 months in the ODI format.

West Indies missed out on the ODI World Cup in 2023 but would be eager on qualifying directly for the tourament this time around. But they are currently 10th with 77 points to their credit and the series win by Bangladesh over New Zealand has made it tough for them.

Bangladesh now has 83 points, which is six more than the West Indies. England may also be starting to worry. A lot of ODI cricket will be played after the current Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The West Indies, Bangladesh, and England all want to move up in the rankings.

Unless Afghanistan has a big change in the next 11 months, only two of these three teams will be able to directly qualify for the World Cup.