KARACHI, March 13: Defending champions Australia have been paired in the same group as India and Pakistan for this year’s Champions Trophy, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Thursday.

West Indies., the runners-up in 2006 tournament, are also in Group ‘A’ for the sixth edition of the biennial tournament, which is to be hosted by Pakistan in September-October this year.

“Group A comprises Australia, India, Pakistan and the West Indies while South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England form Group B,” the ICC said in a statement released from its headquarters in Dubai.

India beat hosts Australia to lift a tri-series tournament earlier this month and are now considered the greatest threat to Australia’s dominance.

India’s victory followed a bad-tempered Test series against Australia marred by allegations of racial abuse.

Australia defeated the West Indies to take their maiden Champions Trophy title in 2006 in India.

The eight teams in the 2008 trophy will play on a round-robin basis with two teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals.

The groupings for the biennial tournament were decided on the basis of the official one-day rankings as of March 12.

The ICC decided three years ago to prune the field to eight teams from 10, following criticism of an unwieldy tournament.

The tournament schedule and venues will be announced later.

The groups (seedings in brackets):

Group A: Australia (1), India (4), Pakistan (5), West Indies (8).

Group B: South Africa (2), New Zealand (3), Sri Lanka (6), England (7).—Agencies