Delhi: We have reached the Super 8 round in the T20 World Cup and the interesting thing is that a lot of talk is now happening about the format of the T20 World Cup. Questions have started again on the format and this time the issue is the groups formed for Super 8. Note: Super 8 Group A: India, South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe (each of these teams reached this point without any defeat in the group round) Super 8 Group B: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England (each of these teams reached this point after one defeat in the group round)
In this way where all the group toppers are now in one group and all the group number 2s are in the other group. Ever since the announcement of these groups, the number of people pointing out glitches in the format has been increasing. It was known even before the start of the World Cup that the groups in Super 8 would be formed in this manner but the noise is being made now. Everyone is also believing that such a strange method of forming groups in Super 8 has been adopted for the first time but this is not true. Earlier in the 2012 T20 World Cup also, the teams that remained undefeated in the group stage were placed in the same pool in the Super 8.
Is this the right way? Why are Super 8 pre-seeding wrong for the T20 World Cup? Some facts have to be noted for this: Why did this happen: According to ICC, the reason for this is logistics planning. What’s its biggest disadvantage: It takes away the competition and uncertainty that usually makes events exciting.
Till now, a huge crowd has come to watch the T20 World Cup matches and people remain interested in the T20 World Cup. Yet, as the group stage drew to a close, the ‘competition’ was almost over in the remaining matches. The names of the 8 Super 8 qualifiers had already been revealed, so the focus was not on the final table positions but only on match practice and upsets. Such changes are largely a result of the pre-seeding system introduced by the ICC in the last two T20 World Cups.
What is this system: The routes for the second round were decided even before the tournament started. India was A1 for the Super 8 stage regardless of its finishing position in the first round. This method was considered necessary for logistics planning. Similarly, Australia was fixed as B1, England as C1 and New Zealand as D1, no matter where they were in their respective groups. Sri Lanka got the B2 slot, West Indies got C2 and Pakistan got A2.
The United States was placed at A3, while Ireland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were placed at B3, C3 and D3 respectively. This seeding continued throughout the tournament, pre-setting the path to the knockouts. Special positions were also fixed. India is X1, England is Y1, Australia is X2 and New Zealand is Y2. West Indies got X3, Pakistan Y3, South Africa X4 and Sri Lanka Y4. If any of these teams fails to qualify, the replacement team gets that slot. In this, Zimbabwe replaced Australia’s X2.
Why this thinking of ICC seems right: The tournament is in India and Sri Lanka and there are matches in two countries, so a lot of planning is required, from preparation and broadcast schedule to ticket and travel arrangements for supporters. If there is pre-seeding, there is less uncertainty and fixed programs can be made in advance. Pre-seeding was first introduced in the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA to ensure that India played its matches in India’s prime time. This was continued in this T20 World Cup also.
It makes sense that fans should get a chance to book in advance to watch their favorite teams play. Last minute bookings tend to see steep increases in airfares and accommodation prices, making just watching cricket an expensive proposition. The proof of this is the India-Pakistan match. A round trip from New Delhi to Colombo usually costs around 25,000 Indian rupees, but as soon as the match with Pakistan was confirmed the prices suddenly increased, to almost four times. So the logistical reason is easy to understand.
So why the noise: It is alleged that the excitement has reduced due to such programs. With all four table-toppers in the same Super 8 group, the imbalance becomes difficult to ignore. A team that performs well in the first round can compete with several other group winners simply by virtue of pre-tournament seeding. Because of this the second group seems less challenging in comparison. This has gone wrong.
Understand this from South Africa. They were ranked No. 1 in their group, yet entered the Super 8s as the lower seed because New Zealand were ahead of them in the initial rankings. Thus, the first round became a series of matches that determined only qualification, and had no other significance. The usual tension over whether to finish first or second is reduced when the next bracket is decided in advance. The same is true for West Indies, who topped Group C after defeating England but have a lower pre-seeding.
Pre-seeding removes the factor of upset and unpredictability that is essential for any world tournament. Originally the Super 8 structure was designed to involve two top-seeded teams. In the league stage, each group contained two second-seeded teams. If the same groups were ranked, one group would contain India (A1), Australia (B1), West Indies (C2), and South Africa (D2), while the other would contain Pakistan (A2), Sri Lanka (B2), England (C1), and New Zealand (D1).
With the exception of Australia, the remaining teams qualified as expected but the positions in which they finished their groups changed.
India topped their table, but due to upsets in the other three groups, West Indies and South Africa, who were initially the number 2 seeds in their respective groups, ended up finishing first along with Zimbabwe, who were not even considered to qualify. That change would have changed the balance of the Super 8s but under pre-seeding, this did not happen.
Now with India, West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the same Super 8 group, one of the top 4 teams in the league stage will be eliminated before the semi-finals. In contrast, the second Super 8 group features all four teams that finished second in their first round group, making it, at least on paper, a much easier path than facing the top teams.
The point is not that strong teams are facing each other. The point is that league performance has not made much of an impact on the difficulty of the next round. Why be No. 1 when even topping the group can get you a tougher bracket than finishing second elsewhere?
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