Had Bangladesh won all of their recent bilateral ODI series matches against Afghanistan and South Africa, they would have had a chance to surpass Pakistan and take a good lead in the rating points. However, Pakistan did Bangladesh a big favour in terms of boosting their current ODI standings after losing the opening match of a three-match home series against Australia by 88 runs on Tuesday (March 29) at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Let's have a look at the most recent ICC ODI rankings for all teams. The Latest ICC One-Day International Rankings Scenario Pakistan suffered a heavy defeat to Australia in the first One-Day International, which had an immediate impact on their ODI standings. They dropped some points as a result of their loss against Australia, and have now plummeted to seventh place in the rankings, just behind Bangladesh. Bangladesh had a chance to go past Pakistan last February if they could have whitewashed Afghanistan. Team Tigers squandered the opportunity by losing the third match to the Afghan national side by 7 wickets. However, Bangladesh boosted their rating points by winning the ODI series against South Africa by 2-1. Therefore, Bangladesh's rankings have improved as a result of Pakistan's loss against Australia. Read: Top Performers of Bangladesh in the ICC Women's World Cup 2022 Pakistan's national team has a good chance of retaining the number six spot following the ODI series against Australia despite dropping one spot in the ICC One-Day International rankings. Pakistan must win at least one of their three matches against their opponents in order to achieve this goal. Pakistan must lose all three matches against Australia in the upcoming ODI series for Bangladesh to stay in sixth place, which is unlikely. Australia will stay in third place regardless of the results of the remaining games in the series. However, if Australia whitewash Pakistan, their rating points will improve significantly. They will be just one point behind arch-rivals England, who are now in second place. Read: SA vs BAN Test Series 2022: Five Bangladeshi players with High Potency On the other hand, Pakistan will take a four-point lead over Bangladesh if they win the series 2-1 against Australia, and a one-point advantage if they lose the series 2-1. If Pakistan team gets whitewashed by the Australian side in the series, they will remain in seventh place and be two rating points behind Bangladesh. The most recent top ten ICC One-Day International (ODI) rankings (as of March 29, 2022)  Position Team Ratings 1 New Zealand 121 2 England 119 3 Australia 117 4 India 110 5 South Africa 102 6 Bangladesh 93 7 Pakistan 93 8 Sri Lanka 81 9 West Indies 77 10 Afghanistan 68    Source: https://www.icc-cricket.com/rankings/mens/team-rankings/odi Bangladesh’s Remaining ODI Fixtures in 2022 Bangladesh national men's team has four more bilateral ODI series left this year, giving them an opportunity to improve their present position in the ICC ODI rankings. Bangladesh will host Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series in August and India for the same number of matches in December. Besides, Bangladesh will also play three One-Day Internationals against the West Indies in June-July and three against Ireland in October. As per the schedule, Bangladesh have 12 ODI matches left in the year 2022. Bangladesh's ratings and standings will surely improve if the majority of the matches end in their favour. Read: ICC Women's World Cup 2022: Meet the Semi-Finalists Bottom Line Bangladesh may not hold the number six spot in the ICC ODI rankings after the completion of the Pakistan-Australia ODI series, but they will be neck and neck with Pakistan in the race for sixth place in the limited-overs team rankings. Bangladesh will certainly climb even further in the ICC ODI team rankings if the Tigers continue to perform well, as they did against the Proteas in their most recent bilateral series. 

Bangladesh are ranked seventh in the ICC ODI rankings after the second match of the BAN vs AFG ODI series 2022. The hosts have been dominating the ongoing bilateral limited-overs series with Afghanistan, and they are strong favorites to win the third match. If Bangladesh can whitewash Afghanistan in the three-match ODI series, they would boost their ODI rankings even further. Let's look at how Bangladesh could enhance its current ICC One-Day International rankings.   ICC Ranking Scenario for Bangladesh at the end of BAN vs AFG ODI Series 2022 According to the most recent update on February 26, Bangladesh remain in seventh place in the ICC One-Day International rankings, just behind Pakistan. Though both Bangladesh and Pakistan have the same 93 rating points. Pakistan earned those rating points by playing fewer matches than Bangladesh, which is why they are still ranked sixth. Read IND vs SL T20I Series 2022: India aspire clean sweep against Sri Lanka Pakistan achieved those points by playing 27 games, whilst Bangladesh had to play 32 games to get 93 rating points. However, Bangladesh would leapfrog Pakistan and move up to sixth place in the standings if they defeat Afghanistan in the third match of the ongoing limited-overs series on Monday (February 28).  If Bangladesh sweep Afghanistan in the ODI series, they will receive 94 rating points. As a result, they will move up one spot in their current ICC rankings. On the other hand, Pakistan will drop to the seventh position. Bangladesh will remain in sixth place at the end of March if they win at least one match against South Africa in the upcoming ODI series and Australia whitewash Pakistan in their away ODI series.  Read BAN vs AFG Series 2022: Bangladesh Eye Clean Sweep against Afghanistan in Final ODI However, Bangladesh will drop two rating points if they lose tomorrow's encounter against Afghanistan. In this scenario, Bangladesh will remain in seventh place with 91 rating points. Ranking predictions for top cricket nations at the end of February 2022 There are no more ODI matches for the major cricket nations in February, with the exception of the third ODI match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan on Monday. Therefore, New Zealand will remain the top-ranked One-Day International side at the end of February 2022. Read ICC WC Super League Points Table: Bangladesh Dethrone England after Series Win over Afghanistan New Zealand lead the ICC One-Day International rankings with 121 rating points. The defending World Cup champions, England are in second place with 119 rating points, followed by their arch-rival Australia, Asian powerhouse India, and African heavyweights South Africa. Pakistan are ranked sixth and Bangladesh are in the seventh position, respectively. Apart from them, 1996 World Cup Champions Sri Lanka are ranked eighth, two-time World Cup Champions West Indies are in the ninth position, and Afghanistan are placed tenth in the current ICC ODI rankings.   Read BAN vs AFG ODI Series 2022: Five Unique Records Broken in the First Match ICC ODI Team Rankings (as of February 26, 2022)  Ranking Team Rating 1 New Zealand 121 2 England 119 3 Australia 116 4 India 110 5 South Africa 105 6 Pakistan 93 7 Bangladesh 93 8 Sri Lanka 81 9 West Indies 77 10 Afghanistan 65   Source: https://www.icc-cricket.com/rankings/mens/team-rankings/odi Bottom Line   Bangladesh's primary objective is to whitewash Afghanistan's limited-overs team in the third match in the ongoing BAN vs AFG ODI series 2022. Bangladesh's ICC One-Day International rankings and World Cup Super League points would both improve if they win the series 3-0. Therefore, the final match of the series is essential for Bangladesh national men's cricket team. In that perspective, the Tamim Iqbal-led team will be even more driven to win tomorrow's (February 28) encounter against the visiting Afghan side at ZACS, Chattogram. The game will begin at 11 a.m. (Bangladesh Standard Time). Read BAN vs AFG 2022: Attainable Milestones for Bangladesh Players in the Afghanistan Series