Afghanistan enter ICC ODI Rankings table for the first time

Thanks to their historic win over Bangaldesh in Asia Cup, Afghanistan were today included in the main ICC ODI Team Rankings table for the first time ever.
Following their 32-run win over Bangaldesh, their first against a Full Member side, Afghanistan met the criteria for getting a rank and they joined the table in 12th place with 32 ratings points.
They have the opportunity to slide past 11th-placed Ireland should they win either of their two remaining Asia Cup group matches.
To gain the promotion to the main rankings table, Afghanistan needed to either win two ODIs against Full Members, or achieve one win in an ODI against a Full Member and also needed to have won more than 60% of qualifying matches versus other Associates (as shown on the Associate / Affiliate ODI Ranking Table).

Afghanistan immediately achieved a ranking upon entry into the table, having played 12 ODIs since August 2010, with the minimum requirement being eight matches.
Afghanistan's 32 ratings points come from the results of these 12 ODIs and the ranking of its opponents at the time the matches were played.

It has been a remarkable journey for Afghanistan which was playing in the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in 2008.
In 2010, they qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 by winning the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2010.
It then finished second to Ireland in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012. Afghanistan finished runner-up a second time to Ireland at the qualifying event in 2013 to make it to the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014.

Afghanistan have also played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2010 in New Zealand, the 2012 edition in Australia, and, most recently, finished seventh in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in 2014.