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The controversy surrounding Bangladesh's 'fake surge' to No.5 in ODI rankings

Are Bangladesh cricket team trying to shake off history too hastily?

It has been an eventful week in Bangladesh. Cricket fans in the country woke up to the happy tidings this Monday that their national team would surge up to No.5 in the ICC ODI rankings when the updated list is released on May 1. However, most of them have been brought down to earth since then.

However much historically significant it would be if Bangladesh were to gain the 5th spot, they are not rising above 7th anytime soon.

The cause of this confusion was what was said by Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan Papon after he returned from an ICC meeting in Dubai. He claimed that it was announced at a meeting on Sunday by ICC chief executive Dave Richardson that Bangladesh were on 101 rating points.

According to the current rankings, they are seventh with 97 rating points.

"At the ICC meeting yesterday (Sunday), the highlight for us was the ODI rankings," Nazmul had told reporters. "There it was disclosed that Bangladesh are No. 5. We always hovered around No. 9 or 10, and then we rose to No. 8 and 7. We are just one point above England and Sri Lanka who are in No. 6 and 7 with 100 points."

He also said that he came to know of this through the communication he was sent by the ICC. He said that he had been on tenterhooks about the rankings issue throughout the meeting, but was elated when it was said that Bangladesh had indeed broken into the top five.

"I saw this ranking before I went to the meeting because they always sent the papers before the meetings," he said. "I thought they had made a mistake. I thought, 'It was No. 7, when did they become No. 5?'

"I checked Cricinfo and there too we were No 7. I was in a lot of tension seeing the ranking so I was waiting for it to come up in the agenda in the meeting."

Why Bangladesh will remain at No.7

Despite Papon’s confidence, it has been learnt that Bangladesh would have been fifth only if results of the last two years were only taken into account. The ODI rankings are calculated in accordance with a three-year cycle, and so this is not about to come to pass.

If results from 2014/15 and 2015/16 are taken into account only, then Bangladesh climb up to 5th. However, this calculation, the result of which reached the BCB President, and through him the Bangladeshi populace, disregards the 2013/14 season. 

Results from the 13/14 season and 14/15 season will be weighted at 50%, while results from the 15/16 season will be weighted at 100%.

The BCB Chief’s exclusion of the 13/14 season might easily come across as an overhasty attempt to shake off history.

It is an interesting question as to how this sort of a gross miscalculation can come to pass in the highest level of cricket administration. It is also a worthwhile question to ask whether this incident improves the reputation of Bangladesh cricket in the international community.

Sportskeeda's columnist from Bangladesh, Faisal Caesar, says: “I was in doubt about Bangladesh’s No.5 position and was waiting for confirmation. I do not understand why news is published before verification. This has already spread a lot of excitement on the social media. This incident reveals that for ages we have taken the route of passion over comprehension. When will my countrymen inculcate the habit of trying to understand and analyse a situation before jumping about it?”

(News updates that followed the BCB Chief’s announcement): 

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