Power Ranking the 2019 World Cup Teams

7. Bangladesh

2nd Momentum ODI: South Africa v Bangladesh

There is perhaps no team ranked below 7th with as much pressure on them as Bangladesh. The Tigers finally managed to qualify for the knockout stages in a World Cup in 2015 as Rubel Hossein’s famous spell carried them past England. However now the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal are all going to be over 30 years old by the time June 2019 rolls around.

Thus, there will be tremendous pressure on all these players to perform in probably their last World Cup. While the Tigers had a great spell after the 2015 World Cup as they defeated Pakistan, India, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in consecutive tournaments. However, since then the team has struggled: losing bilateral series to England, New Zealand and South Africa while finishing second in tri-series to New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

A lot of this has to do with conditions: Bangladesh are a juggernaut at home and if this tournament was in the sub-continent, they would perhaps be ranked two or three spots higher. After all, they have a brilliant opener in Iqbal, two great middle-order batsmen in Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudallah, the world’s best all-rounder in Al Hasan along with two exciting bowlers in Mustafizur Rehman and Mehedi Hasan.

Yet, none of those players may be ideal in English conditions. Since 2015, England has been a haven for 350+ totals. If Bangladesh are to have a chance, they need to be able to reach that total. That seems unlikely considering that the country’s highest ODI total is 329 and have only exceeded 300 on four occasions since the 2015 World Cup.

Moreover, the bowling attack has also struggled against truly great batting attacks. For example in their recent series in South Africa (with similar conditions to England), the hosts made two 350+ totals and chased 282 with no loss in the three ODIs. This does not bode well for the Tigers.