Pakistan must win all three ODIs against Zimbabwe to retain ranking: ICC

Pakistan is currently ranked ninth with 87 points, one behind Bangladesh and West Indies

As if the pressure of ensuring that the first home international cricket series on home soil goes off without a hitch was not enough, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Monday that Pakistan must win all of its three one day international matches against Zimbabwe if it wants to retain its position on the Reliance ICC ODI Rankings.

Pakistan, which has already won the two Twenty20 matches, will take on Zimbabwe in the first of the three ODIs in Lahore on May 26.

Currently ranked ninth with 87 points, Pakistan start the series just 42 points above 11th-ranked Zimbabwe- who have 45 points.

If Pakistan fail to sweep the series, it will drop to 85 points. If Zimbabwe win the series 2-1, it will see Pakistan will slide even lower to 83 points.

With only one point separating seventh-ranked West Indies and eighth-ranked Bangladesh from Pakistan, and England plus the seven next highest-ranked sides on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings as on September 30, 2015, to progress to the ICC Champions Trophy 2015.

Hence, Pakistan cannot afford to lose any matches against Zimbabwe.

The West Indies has no series scheduled until the cut-off date for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to be staged in UK from June 1 to 19.

However, Pakistan still has to play five-ODIs against Sri Lanka in July while Bangladesh has home ODIs against India and South Africa.

Rank               Team                      Points

1                    Australia          129

2                    India                117

3                    New Zealand   116

4                    South Africa    112

5                    Sri Lanka         106

6                    England           94

7                    West Indies      88

8                    Bangladesh      88

9                    Pakistan           87

10                  Ireland             50

11                  Zimbabwe        45

12                  Afghanistan     41