The T20 World Cup 2024 is headed towards its knockout stage and all eight teams have been confirmed for the Super 8 stage. Australia topped Group B with four wins out of four matches but they were still seeded ‘B2″ when it comes to the Super 8 due to the tournament’s pre-seeding. The Super 8 opponents are somewhat pre-decided in the T20 World Cup 2024 due to the seedings and as a result, the standings after the league stage has no bearing on the fixtures. That is why Australia were ‘B2’ despite finishing top in their group. Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc was not pleased with the pre-seeding in the competition and he expressed his frustration at the structure while saying that he is “not a fan”.

“I think there’s a question to be asked about pre-seeding. I’m not sure I’m a fan of that,” Starc said in a press conference following Australia’s win against Scotland in their final group match.

Due to the fact that the seeding system will determine Super 8 fixtures, it is possible that as many as three group winners can end up in the same Super 8 pool. Similar questions were asked when India were seeded ‘A1’ irrespective of how they performed and the way that could have qualified.

Meanwhile, Australia saw off a determined challenge from Scotland to claim a five-wicket victory in a decisive final Group B match of the T20 World Cup for both teams at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Saturday.

Replying to the Scots’ 180 for five, their highest total in a T20 World Cup match, half-centuries from Travis Head (68 off 49 balls, five fours, four sixes) and Marcus Stoinis (59 off 29 balls, nine fours, two sixes) paced them to the target and a 100 percent winning record in the group with two balls to spare.

Tim David‘s unbeaten 24 off 14 balls finished the job to lift Australia to 186 for five. 

But he required a generous slice of luck when dropped at deep midwicket before finishing off the match with a huge six in the same direction off the next ball from seamer Brad Wheal.

That result also eliminated Scotland and allowed title-holders England, winners earlier in the day over Namibia in a rain-affected match in Antigua, to qualify for the Super Eights phase of the competition alongside their arch-rivals by virtue of a better net run-rate than the Scots.

(With AFP inputs)