Bangladesh will play World Cup 2019 even if they lose every series till 30 September 2017 - reports
Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan Papon said that Bangladesh will qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup even if the Bangladeshi cricket team losses every series from now to September 30 next year. He also said that the upcoming series against England which is scheduled to begin on Friday in Dhaka.
Papon, speaking in an exclusive interview to Bangladeshi television channel Somoy TV, confirmed that even if the teams behind Bangladesh win all their matches, the Tigers will still play in the 2019 World Cup.
Also read: Disgraced Bangladesh player Mohammad Ashraful shines with ball on return
“If Bangladesh lose all their upcoming series and the teams who are now behind the Tigers win all their matches that are in their FTP till 30th September 2017, won’t affect Bangladesh and as the Eighth team of the ranking they will qualify for the World Cup of 2019 directly as per the saying of ICC regarding the present condition,” said a BCB source to the BDcricteam.
FTP or the Future Tours Programme is a schedule of cricket matches that features each full member of the ICC facing every other member, both home and away, at least once over 10 years.
The current ICC ODI rankings depend on the performances of different teams in the last three years. However, the ICC considers the results of the teams over the last two years in order to decide the qualification rankings of prestigious tournaments. These rankings are usually decided by a secret procedure and the International Cricket Council informs only the cricket boards about it.
Bangladesh currently lies in the seventh position in the latest ICC ODI rankings. According to the source, The south Asian nation holds the sixth position in the tournament’s qualification rankings. He also revealed that if Bangladesh lose every forthcoming series and all lower ranked teams win all their upcoming series, Bangladesh will drop down to eighth position on September 30 next year, which would mean they can take part in the 2019 World Cup.
Also read: 5 talking points from the Bangladesh-Afghanistan ODI series
However, the source also confirmed that the situation might change if the lower ranked teams can arrange any further series which are not included in their FTP might.
The Bangladeshi cricket team is scheduled to play three One Day International cricket matches against England between October 7 and October 12. The Tigers are also scheduled to play three ODI matches against New Zealand and Pakistan before September 2017. They will also participate in a tri-nation series with New Zealand and Ireland and will be playing in ICC Champions Trophy in that time span.