Ban surpass Pak, Aus in T20 rankings

By claiming the recently concluded Twenty20 series against Ireland, Bangladesh surpassed the top teams like Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and India in the ICC Twenty20 rankings.

They whitewashed Ireland in the three-match series and had risen to fourth place in the team's rankings.

The Tigers' are now behind England, South Africa and Sri Lanka - the top three teams in the standings - respectively. Mohammad Ashraful was the pick of the Bangladesh batsmen, contributing 77 runs in three matches, while Elias Sunny got the best bowling figures, picking up eight wickets in as many matches. The slow left-arm spinner was also awarded Man-of-the-Match for his 5 for 13 in the first game, which was also his debut match, on Wednesday.

Series win against Ireland has taken Bangladesh to No. 4 in the rankings, which is above Pakistan, Australia and India.

Coach Richard praised team's effort in Ireland, especially the way their slow bowlers Sunny, Abdur Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful performed.

"I'm very happy with the spin quartet. The tour was good for our seamers too, who got experience of bowling in northern hemisphere conditions, learning that they have to get their lengths right," said Pybus, whose side have been placed with Pakistan and New Zealand in Group D for the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September.

"Our batting was pretty solid too, but we have a little work to do before the World Twenty20," he added.

Bangladesh are at No. 9, only above Zimbabwe (10), Ireland (11), Netherlands (12) and Kenya (13), in the one-day internationals’ rankings. They hold the same spot, which is at the bottom of the table, in the nine-team Test rankings.

The ICC rules says, only teams that have played at least eight T20 internationals in the period starting August 1 2009 to date will get a ranking. The qualifying period changes every August.

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