T20 World Cup: Confusion reigns as ICC changes Super 12 group seeding
Confusion reigned amongst the fans and the members of the media after the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to change Bangladesh and Sri Lanka's group seeding in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup on the fourth day of the flagship event.
On August 17, ICC had revealed the tournament fixture where the official mail stated that Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would be moving to the Super 12 stage seeded as A1 and B1 respectively regardless of the group standing.
However, the ICC in their latest email today, revealed the decision to change the seeding of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, stating that the both of these two sides will be moving to the Super 12 according to their respective standing in the qualifying round.
According to the ICC's previous decision, regardless of the position in the group, Bangladesh were set to play in Group 2 in the Super 12s with India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, and A2 in the qualifying round as opponents.
But according to the latest email by the ICC, if Bangladesh now finish as runners-up in the qualifying group, they will be placed in Group 1 and face England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies and A1.
"Clarity on Super 12 qualification - The teams that finish top of the standings in Group A and Group B, will take the position of A1 and B1 in the Super 12s. Therefore, A2 and B2 will be taken by the second-place teams in each group respectively. It is not done on Round 1 group seedings," said the ICC email.
ICC however has not given any explanation over the sudden change.
The Bangladeshi journalists covering the event have been informed that the match selection process will be re-opened. Previously, the Bangladeshi journalists had to select which matches they wanted to cover and they had selected all the matches based on the fact that Bangladesh were seeded as B1 in the Super 12 round.
Confusion however remains for the spectators who had bought tickets to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh matches for the Super 12 stage, keeping in consideration that the teams would be seeded as A1 and B1 respectively. ICC is yet to give an official statement regarding the matter too.
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