Victory in the five-match ODI series, which begins in Sharjah on Wednesday, October 30, will give Pakistan two feats against Protease, as the Asian team would also be able to overtake South Africa in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings.
Pakistan are currently sitting at sixth position, four ratings points behind South Africa. If Pakistan win the series 3-2, the two sides will swap places, with the Asian side moving into fifth position on 103 ratings points and the Protease dropping to sixth spot on 102 ratings points.
Conversely, South Africa will move to 107 ratings points if it wins the series 4-1 and will narrow the gap with England and Sri Lanka to just four ratings points. That gap will be trimmed to just one rating point if South Africa sweeps the series.
Meanwhile, New Zealand finds itself in a must-win situation in its three-match series against host Bangladesh that starts in Dhaka on Tuesday.
New Zealand is in seventh position on 89 ratings points while Bangladesh is ranked ninth on 76 ratings points.
If Bangladesh wins the series, it will move to 79 ratings points while New Zealand will slip behind the West Indies into eighth, on 87 ratings. However, if New Zealand wins the series, then it will gain two ratings points and rise to 91 ratings points, while Bangladesh will drop to 75 ratings points after conceding one rating point.
World champion India has been guaranteed the number-one spot after the last two ODIs in the seven-match series against Australia were washed-out. Australia leads the series 2-1 with the final two matches to be played in Nagpur and Bengaluru on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
Australia had entered the series needing to win 6-1 or better to reclaim the number-one spot, which it last held in July 2012.
If Australia manages to win the final two ODIs, it will rise to 119 ratings points while India will finish on 120 ratings points. In sharp contrast, if India wins both matches, it will finish on 123 ratings points while Australia will slide to 114 ratings points – only three ahead of England and Sri Lanka.
KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.
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