Not fixating on rankings

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza refused to be drawn into the rankings speculation during the pre-match press conference at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium today, ahead of tomorrow's first of three ODIs against Sri Lanka, saying that focusing on that aspect would create unnecessary pressure on the team.

"If we think about the ranking, we won't be able to play our normal game. When we reached No 7, we didn't think about rankings during those matches. It is hard to think about those things," said Mashrafe.  

Bangladesh are currently ranked seventh and will leapfrog Sri Lanka to sixth if they whitewash the home side in the coming series. The top eight teams will gain direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England and the cut-off point is September 30, 2017.

The ODI skipper, who has recently recovered from a thumb fracture sustained in the New Zealand T20Is, did not seem to bank on Bangladesh's upsurge in ODI fortunes, and said that playing ODIs away was a different matter.

"The three ODIs pose a big question since we have been playing this format at home for last two years. We lost all three away ODIs in New Zealand, so it is a different challenge," said Mashrafe.