Seeds of trouble

Which are the three best teams in world cricket? Not a million-dollar question in any sense. Or is it? South Africa, Australia and India, in that specific order, are the three best ODI teams as per the rankings of the International Cricket Council.

Interestingly enough, only two of them will qualify for the semifinals of the upcoming World Twenty20. If you think it is a prediction, you are wrong. It is a fact. The prediction is, there will be a lot of bloodshed early on in the tournament with a couple of favourite teams bowing out even before the semifinal stage.

The seedings for the second edition of the tournament are such that only two of the three ‘best’ teams can make the semifinal cut. Or if one were to stretch the point further, the four favourites — defending T20 champions, defending world ODI champions, No. 1 ODI team in the world and hosts England — have been placed in the same group. This has happened because the ICC has prepared the draw in accord with the teams’ performance in the first edition of the tournament.

If the results of the group stage go as they should, India, Australia, South Africa and England will be in one group (E) and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand will form the other group (F).

The ICC said the seedings were done on basis of 2007 performance because of lack of a structural T20 ranking system. “With so little Twenty20 cricket being played at international level there is no T20 team rankings table. So the seedings for this event were determined by how the teams finished in South Africa,” an ICC spokesman told DNA. ICC also contended that the best team in one format cannot be construed or considered as the best in another format.

According to ICC, India and Pakistan, the finalists in the 2007 edition, are the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the T20 currently. The two semifinalists — Australia and New Zealand — are Nos. 3 & 4. South Africa (No. 5), Sri Lanka (No. 6), England (No. 7), Bangladesh (No. 8) complete the top eight seedings. The West Indies, having been knocked out of the group stage last time, are at No.10, even below Zimbabwe. The Netherlands (No. 11) and Ireland (No. 12) are the other two teams in the tournament.
India captain MS Dhoni, having reached London late on Friday night, could not be reached for comments but team manager said the players are aware of the seeding system.

“The team knows how the seedings were prepared,” V Chamunderswarnath, a retired first class cricketer, said. “All the players are in good nick and we are hoping for the best.”

The 12 participating teams have been divided into four groups of three teams each.
Two teams from each group qualify for the Super Eight stage which will be played among two groups of four teams each.

Two teams from each group qualify for the semifinals. India are placed in a relatively easy Group A with Bangladesh and Ireland. Expected to qualify, they face tougher tests in the Super Eight stage in their defence of the title.