Teams winning all group stage matches are in same group in Super 8s stage.
ICC has received big flak ever since the two groups of the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 stage were confirmed. Due to the pre-seeding structure, the runners-up were placed in one pool and the four group winners in another.
As a result of this combination, the top-performing teams were placed in the "Group of Death," and the not-so-good-performing teams are now facing less-than-ideal opponents.
Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar expressed his thoughts on the subject, stating that it is pointless to bring up the issue at this time.
"Why bring this up now? Why was this not brought up before the start of the tournament? Those are the questions that need to be asked of the people who are raising these points now. The reason that I can think of, and maybe the ICC can explain it better, is that the logistics of the tournament are being played in two countries," Gavaskar told India Today.
In response to the ICC's decision to have teams 'pre-seeded' due to the intricacy of the schedule, Gavaskar stated that the top board had a lot to think about, including hotel bookings, travel, visa, and customs clearance, before deciding that teams should be 'pre-seeded.'
"There's international travel, there's immigration, and there's customs—all those things to be taken care of. There is still the question of airline and hotel bookings; not every team travels with the same number of people. Some teams travel with a support staff team of 15, so maybe they need 35-40 rooms. Some teams may travel with 20-22 people altogether, so they may need fewer rooms. All these things need to be taken into account, and perhaps this is the reason why the pre-seeding took place," he added.
The ICC’s decision to determine Super 8s groupings based on pre-tournament rankings rather than actual group-stage performance has come under scrutiny. The pre-seeded system has resulted in all the teams that won all their games in the group stage—India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and West Indies—being put together in Group 1.
Group 2 consists entirely of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand, who lost atleast one game in the group stage.