Thanks to Cricinfo...

The ICC has fixed the groups for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and, given that not enough matches have been played in this new format to establish official rankings, has gone by the finishing positions in the 2007 tournament.
The ICC board, which met in Dubai on Wednesday, had discussed the groupings following a request by the England and Wales Cricket Board for early determination to proceed with the venue-event bidding process, which in turn would allow match tickets to go on sale at the earliest.
The groups (with 2007 finishing positions in brackets):
Group A
India (1)
Bangladesh (8)
Zimbabwe (9)

Group B
Pakistan (2)
England (7)
Associate 1 (10)

Group C
Australia (3)
Sri Lanka (6)
West Indies (11)

Group D
New Zealand (4)
South Africa (5)
Associate 2 (12)

Hmmmmmm so we have India in a pool with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and yet Australia have Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

Seems a little unbalanced (I can see how they were stuck for a logical way to group the pools but surely commonsense says there pools aren't right).

I like how WI are ranked (11th) below an associate team (10th) that has not even qualified yet.

And sittingduck, you (and everybody else) have beaten the WI many times over the most recent years so why worry?

If I were angling for a lucrative TV deal I'd be keen on these groupings....

1. Assuming the WI get their act together (as I'm sure they shall)Group C can be marketed as a "group of death": it will add interest to the early rounds.

2. India are pretty much guaranteed a prime spot in the next round as group winners.

3. You've got classic rivalries in the other groups: Pakistan vs England and NZ vs SA is a LOT more marketable than (say) Pakistan vs SA and England vs NZ!

With all that said... I'm in full agreement that the WI should seeded in the top 8 and playing in India's group in place of Bangladesh: not commercially as good.. but a fairer reflection of the likely strengths (and cricketing status) of the WI and Bangladesh.

The whole situation reminds of the Rugby World Cup where the IRB selected the groups about 2.5 years ahead of the tournament which led to some totally uneven pools, such as NZ having no team from the top eight in the world in their pool and France (2), Argentina (4) and Ireland (7 I think) all being in one pool.