The ICC Champions Trophy, is one of the most prestigious international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournaments. It is organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), featuring the top-ranked teams in the world battling for supremacy. Although the tournament was discontinued after 2017, it has now set to return in 2025 with Pakistan as the host nation.
The ICC introduced the tournament in 1998 as the ICC Knock-Out Trophy. The goal was to generate revenue to develop cricket in non-Test-playing nations. The first edition, held in Bangladesh, saw South Africa emerge victorious.
The 2000 edition, hosted in Kenya, was the last to follow the knockout format. New Zealand won their maiden ICC trophy in this edition. Since the tournament in 2002, hosting has been divided among nations in an unofficial rotating arrangement; six ICC members have hosted at least one tournament match.
From 2002 onwards, the tournament was renamed the ICC Champions Trophy, adopting a round-robin format to ensure more competitive matches. Over the years, the tournament became an important ICC event, with its significance growing alongside the Cricket World Cup.
To decide which countries advance to the tournament stage, the current model includes a qualification step that is held during the previous Cricket World Cup. A spot in the competition is guaranteed to the top eight World Cup teams, including the Champions Trophy hosts.
Eight teams participated in the 2017 event, out of the thirteen teams that had participated in the tournament's eight previous editions. The event has been won twice by Australia and India, and once each by South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Pakistan. To date, seven national teams have participated in each tournament edition.
Some key milestones:-
2002: India and Sri Lanka were declared joint winners after rain washed out the final twice.
2004: The West Indies won their first and only Champions Trophy, defeating England in a dramatic final.
2006 & 2009: Australia became the only team to win consecutive titles, asserting dominance in world cricket.
2013: India, led by MS Dhoni, clinched the trophy by defeating England in a rain-shortened final.
2017: Pakistan won their first Champions Trophy, defeating India in the final, marking one of their greatest victories.
Following the 2017 edition, the ICC scrapped the tournament in favor of the T20 World Cup. However, in 2021, the ICC decided to revive the Champions Trophy, announcing Pakistan as the host for the 2025 edition.
Tournament Format
The top teams in the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings advanced to the competition in the first eight editions. To decide who would go to the quarterfinals, a few pairs of teams competed in the Pre-Quarter-finals in the first two editions. In 1998 there were nine teams; in 2000 there were eleven, and in 2002 there were twelve.
It was scaled down to ten in 2006, with two teams moving on to the main competition after four teams competed in a qualification round-robin. After the 2009 competition, the number dropped even lower to eight.
There are several ways in which the Champions Trophy is different from the World Cup. While the World Cup might go on for more than a month, the Champions Trophy matches take place over about two and a half weeks. The most recent Champions Trophy edition had eight teams, while the most recent World Cup edition had ten. The Champions Trophy has fewer teams than the World Cup.
In the round-robin tournaments of 2002 and 2004, twelve teams competed in four pools of three, with the winner of each group advancing to the semi-final. To win the tournament, a team would only need to play four games: two in the pool, one in the semifinals, and one in the final.
The Champions Trophy competitions followed a different format than the Knock Out rounds. With no pools and elimination for the loser of each game, the competition was a straight knockout. There were just eight games in 1998 and ten in 2000.
Since 2009, eight teams have participated in round-robin competitions in two pools of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. If you lose even one match, you could be eliminated from the competition. Under the current tournament structure, there are 15 matches contested over the course of two and a half weeks.
It was announced in November 2021 that Pakistan would host the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. India declined to play matches in Pakistan due to political difficulties, so it was agreed that the tournament would utilize a hybrid format, with India's group matches and semifinals taking place in Dubai and the final also taking place there.
The host country i.e Pakistan got knocked out by the Indian cricket team by six wickets and 244 runs. In the semi-final round, India beats Australia by 4 wickets and made its place to the final match, which is going to held on 9th march 2025.
Who do you think will win the next Champions Trophy? Let us know in the comments!
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