With this edition being the first-ever 20-team World Cup, the top eight teams were seeded ahead of time.
The T20 World Cup 2024 is headed towards the business-end of the tournament with the Super 8s stage kickstarted after the culmination of the initial group stages.
However, there have been a lot of criticism surrounding the structure of the draw.
With this edition being the first-ever 20-team World Cup, the top eight teams were seeded ahead of time, giving them prior knowledge of which group they would be in for the Super Eights.
In addition, it was announced prior to the start of the tournament that India would play the second semifinal in Guyana if they qualified, rendering their finishing position in their Super 8s irrelevant, as long as they were first or second. The reason for this decision was purely done from the standpoint of convenience for the Indian audience.
However, the other teams who have qualified for the Super 8s were not provided any such assurance of any venue and will play the first or second semifinal depending on where they finish in the group.
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Echoing on the same lines, former England cricket Mark Butcher slammed ICC for the pre-seeded tournament structure.
He also emphasised lack of pushback on this design flaw on official broadcasting channels.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said, “You won’t [hear anything from the broadcasters] because they’re working for the ICC and the ICC won’t allow any form of dissent from the people that it asked to come and work for it so you don’t hear any criticism of anything. It’s not allowed, banned.”
The Super 8s lineups are as follows: Group 1 consists of India, Australia, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, while Group 2 features the USA, England, the West Indies, and South Africa.
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