Pakistan could climb to fourth place in the official One-Day International ratings with a landslide victory in the ongoing five-match series against Bangladesh.
Due to the close proximity of the ratings of the six teams in the middle of the official table, a 5-0 victory will lift Pakistan from seventh to fourth, overtaking Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies in the process.
Pakistan will have 107 points, placing it narrowly behind England, when the ratings are analysed to three decimal places.
After coming within a wicket of beating Pakistan in the final Test, however, Bangladesh will be optimistic of gaining its first ODI victory against a Full Member country since it beat Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999.
Such is the gap in the ratings of the two sides (and the proximity of these teams in the middle of the table) that even a 4-1 series win for Pakistan would see it fall below India to eighth in the official table.
Bangladesh, currently on a rating of 1, needs to win at least one match to prevent its rating falling to 0. Two wins will lift its rating to the highest level since before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 while three victories would push its rating to the highest it has been since the official system was launched in October 2002.
The ratings:
1 Australia 135
2 South Africa 118
3 England 107
4 West Indies 106
5 New Zealand 106
6 Sri Lanka 105
7 Pakistan 105
8 India 104
9 Zimbabwe 63
10 Kenya 28
11 Bangladesh 1
