How the World Cup Seeding Worked and Bangladesh’s Opponents in the Super Eight

For the first time, the ICC T20 World Cup is featuring 20 teams. These 20 teams are divided into 4 groups. The top 2 teams from each group, making a total of 8 teams, will advance to the Super Eight. The Super Eight will be divided into two pools, each containing 4 teams.

From the Super Eight, the top 2 teams from each pool will move on to the semifinals. This time, the process of determining which teams from the groups will be in which pool in the Super Eight isn't following the traditional format in the T20 World Cup.

Typically, the champion team from a group is ranked at the top. For example, the top team from Group A would be labeled A1, and the runner-up A2. However, for this World Cup, the ICC has implemented a seeding process to determine A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, and D2.

In this system, it was somewhat pre-determined which team would be 1 or 2 from each group entering the Super Eight.

Here are the designated seeds:
- Group A: India A1, Pakistan A2
- Group B: England B1, Australia B2
- Group C: New Zealand C1, West Indies C2
- Group D: South Africa D1, Sri Lanka D2

You might be wondering, if New Zealand from Group C and Sri Lanka from Group D have been knocked out, and if Pakistan in Group A and England in Group B are not likely to advance to the Super Eight, what happens then?

The answer is, if any team outside the seeding makes it to the Super Eight, they will take the place of the team that failed. For instance, if West Indies make it to the Super Eight from Group C, they would be seeded as C2 according to the initial plan. However, since New Zealand couldn’t qualify for the Super Eight, their spot (C1) is taken by Afghanistan.

Similarly, if Bangladesh qualifies from Group D, they would take Sri Lanka's spot (D2). Even if Bangladesh becomes the group champion, they would still be seeded as D2 in the Super Eight.

If Bangladesh secures a spot in the Super Eight, their opponents will be:
- From Group A: India
- From Group B: Australia
- From Group C: Afghanistan.