The underlying principle of the World Cup schedule, released on Thursday, is the competitive balance between the two groups. The teams in the groups are of comparable strength and, going by their International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI rankings, the groups are evenly placed.
The ICC has also decided to pre-seed the teams so that fans can pre-book tickets for their preferred sides for the later-stage games, particularly in the Super 7s when India and Pakistan could, potentially, meet for the second time, on November 7 at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. This is for later.
Group A consists of India (ranked No. 1), Australia (No. 4), Pakistan (No. 5), Afghanistan (No. 8) and Zimbabwe (No. 11). The sum of their rankings is 29 (1+4+5+8+11). One more team is part of this group (Qualifier A) but it has not yet been identified.
The rankings of the Group B teams – New Zealand (No. 2), South Africa (No. 3), England (No. 6), Sri Lanka (No. 7) and Bangladesh (No. 9) — add up to 27 (2+3+6+7+9), if one were to leave out the Qualifier B whose identity is still not known.
The numbers for the two groups are almost identical, and the slight difference in the final counts could be because the rankings at the time the draw was made were different from the latest rankings. There is a clear attempt to bring about parity between the groups and put them on an equal footing.
The ICC also gave pre-seedings to the teams and India are A1, Australia A2, Pakistan A3, England AB4, New Zealand B1, South Africa, B2 and Sri Lanka, B3. The pre-seedings were done as per the popular expectations and A1 does not necessarily mean that India are being presumed to have topped Group A. The pre-seedings are for the purpose of draw and if India were not to qualify, the team replacing them will get the A1 seeding.
Going by the pre-seedings, India’s Super 7s match against Pakistan – their second meeting with the arch-rivals after the initial Group Stage game on October 10 – could be on November 7 in Cape Town. The fixture, of course, is subject to both teams qualifying for the Super 7s stage. The arch-rivals could also meet for a third time, either in the semi-finals or the final, should both sides progress that far. That is, however, a proposition with a big if.
India’s other Super 7s games should be against Australia in Victoria Falls on October 28, South Africa in Johannesburg on October 31, New Zealand in Paarl on November 4, England in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) on November 11 and, finally, Sri Lanka in Durban on November 14.
The schedule is based on India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka making it to the Super 7s stage. But then, the World Cup has a way of throwing up surprises, and things do not always go according to script.
