Imbalance in the T20 World Super 8 grouping attracts criticism

Former India opener Aakash Chopra explains it’s mandatory to keep Sri Lanka and Pakistan in one group, and India must be in a different group.

The T20 World Super 8 grouping has attracted attention, as all group stage toppers, including India, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe, have been placed in Group 1. Whereas, Group 2 consists of the four teams that finished second in their respective groups – New Zealand, Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka. This structure has ensured that two of the tournament’s best-performing teams from the first round will be eliminated before the semi-finals, while a team that finished second in its group will now have a theoretically “easier” path to the final four.

Criticism of the imbalance in the T20 World Super 8 grouping.

The tournament groupings were decided based on the teams’ rankings before the T20 World Cup. Only Zimbabwe took Australia’s seeded place in the Super 8, as Australia couldn’t advance to the group stage. The imbalance in the grouping further intensified with the marquee event being held in two countries, India and Sri Lanka. The fact that Pakistan can’t travel to India for its matches has complicated the schedule-makers’ task. However, former India opener Aakash Chopra said there’s no reason to believe that social media claims that the schedule has been done in such a way as to favour India. In a video, Chopra said, “This tournament is happening in two countries. So, India has to play all their matches in India, and Sri Lanka and Pakistan have to play all their matches in Sri Lanka. So, it is mandatory to keep Sri Lanka and Pakistan in one group, and India must be in a different group. Nahitohkaamkaisechalega?”

More on what Aakash Chopra said on the matter.

He said, “Many people are saying that all of this is favouring BCCI, and is happening to favour BCCI only. To those people, I want to ask something, Dimaagkhaalihaikyayaar? (Is your brain empty?) Why would we want to keep South Africa and the West Indies in our group? How does it help us any which way? That Australia would lose, who knew? And Zimbabwe topped the group. So, don’t consider it as the weaker group. Do some research at least.Faltukibaatey mat kiyakaro, shobhanahideta (Don’t talk rubbish, it does not suit you).” He even gave the instance of the 2012 T20 World Cup, where all group stage toppers were clubbed together in the Super 8.

The former Indian player also said, “People are saying that how can you do this and all, what is this pre-seeding here, there is no advantage of topping the group. But we have to understand that this is not happening for the first time. This happened in 2007, 2009, 2010, and even in 2012. In 2012, the exact same scenario as now unfolded, where the table toppers were together in one group.”