London: India have subcontinental rivals Sri Lanka and Bangladesh besides a qualifier in their pool in the 2007 World Cup after the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday confirmed the seedings for the mega event.

India, who have been given the eighth seeding according to their official position in the ICC ODI championship table on April 1, 2005, will feature in the Pool 2, the ICC said in a release here.

While ICC announced the seedings for the 11 teams, the remaining five will be ranked according to their performance in the ICC Trophy, to be held in July, Ireland, this year.

The 16-nation is to be played in eight venues in the Caribbean islands during February and March, 2007.

Holders and top seed Australia will be based in St Kitts and Nevis and are clubbed with South Africa and two other qualifiers.

India?s group will be hosted by Trinidad and Tobago while England will play their group games in St Lucia.

Host nation the West Indies will begin their campaign in Jamaica.

The teams, split into four groups of four, will play a round robin group stage, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the Super Eights stage.

In the Super Eights, each team will play against every other team it has not already played.

The result of the game between the two leading teams in the group stage will be carried forward. The top four teams at the end of the Super Eights will qualify for the semi-finals.

The tournament dates and a full fixture schedule for the event will be announced shortly after the completion of the ICC Trophy in July.

SEEDINGS AND GROUPINGS

• POOL 1 (St Kitts & Nevis): Australia (No. 1 seed), South Africa (5), first and fifth qualifiers.
• POOL 2 (Trinidad & Tobago): Sri Lanka (2), India (8), Bangladesh (11), fourth qualifier.
• POOL 3 (St Lucia): New Zealand (3), England (7), Kenya (10), third qualifier.
• POOL 4 (Jamaica): Pakistan (4), West Indies (6), Zimbabwe (9), second qualifier.