ICC 2019 World Cup: Tough road ahead for Pakistan and West Indies for direct qualification

New Delhi: Going into the 3-match ODI series against West Indies, Pakistan needed to come out as 3-0 winners in order to confirm direct qualification in the 2019 ICC World Cup.

West Indies won the first match of the series, chasing down their highest ever total of 309 runs but failed to maintain the momentum in next two matches. A victory in the remaining two could have taken their points tally to 87 points, marginally ahead of fellow contenders.

Pakistan, similarly, might have been at 92 points, edging ahead of seventh-placed Bangladesh by a fraction if they had won the series 3-0.

The series conclusion did not see much movement in the rankings as Pakistan gained one point to reach 90 on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings to remain in eighth position while West Indies lost another point to remain ninth with 83 points.

Here's the complete ICC ODI team rankings table:-

Rank	Name	Matches	Rating
1	South Africa	62	119
2	Australia	61	118
3	New Zealand	59	113
4	India	56	112
5	England	60	108
6	Sri Lanka	67	98
7	Bangladesh	35	92
8	Pakistan	58	89
9	West Indies	42	84
10	Afghanistan	36	52
11	Zimbabwe	55	48
12	Ireland	25	42

England will directly qualify being the hosts of the tournament along with the other top 7 teams. 30th September 2017 being the last date for direct qualification, both teams will be eager to improve and show error-free performances in the matches to come.

This was the last series before the annual update of rankings is released on May 1, which aims to reflect current performances eliminating older results.

As far as the remaining matches before the deadline day is concerned, Pakistan is scheduled to play at least six more ODIs, with minimum three of them in Champions Trophy and then three against Bangladesh.

West Indies, on the other hand due to play 10 more ODIs, both against better-ranked teams, 5 against England in England and 5 against India in India.