Apart from declaring the two groups that will contest the 2011 World Cup, the International Cricket Council has said that the tournament could be a week shorter that the last one hosted in the West Indies two years ago.

India and Pakistan, Australia and South Africa find themselves in different groups. Pakistan will not have to play any of their league games in India.

"We're on record as saying that we acknowledged that 2007 might have been longer than desired. So we want to take a week off, if not more," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying in Cricinfo.

ICC President David Morgan said: "We're already certain that it will be shorter. You can be sure that we at the ICC had learnt from past mistakes. I mean there is no doubt that the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean was unsuccessful in some aspects."