Ind, Aus, Pak in the same group

After a volatile tri-series Down Under, India and Australia are set to face off again in September as the two teams find themselves in the same group for the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled to be held in Pakistan.

India has been pooled with Ricky Ponting's defending champions, arch rivals Pakistan as well as the dangerous West Indies in Group A.

The other pool features South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England.

The groupings were finalised on the basis of teams' rankings in the ICC ODI Championship table as on March 12, which was the cut-off date for the determination of the seedings for the Champions Trophy.

Australia were sitting atop the charts on the cut-off date, just ahead of the Proteas, who can take over the number one ranking if they beat Bangladesh in the third one-dayer of their series in Mirpur tomorrow.

India, who were joint winners of the Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002, are placed fourth, one better than Pakistan while West Indies are the lowest ranked of the eight participating teams, even though they won the 2004 Champions Trophy and lost in the final of the last edition.

New Zealand are ranked third and Sri Lanka sixth, one ahead of England.