The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the governing body of professional cricket globally. Apart from regulating the in-match progress in terms of fair play, the ICC also organizes elite multinational tournaments. These include the Cricket World Cup, World Test Championships, T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy. This article details the salient features of the ICC Champions Trophy.
The Champions Trophy was first conceived in 1998, when it was played as a Knockout Trophy between top teams. The event’s main goal was to raise funds for the non-test playing nations of the ICC. The tournament was renamed as the Champions Trophy in 2002. The tournament is held every four years. It runs for half-a-month and the top eight teams of the most recently held 50-over cricket World Cup qualify for the next Champions Trophy.
The format of the Champions Trophy has varied. Since 2009, the teams are divided in two pools. Teams in each pool play each other in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stages, i.e., the semi-finals and the final. A total of 13 teams have qualified for the Champions Trophy till date. Seven different teams have been crowned as champions. India and Australia are the only teams to win the title twice each. Australia on the other hand is the only side to win the title consecutively. New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan have won the title once each.
As of November 2023, Chris Gayle holds the record of scoring the most runs in the Champions Trophy (791 runs). Virat Kohli has a staggering average of 88.16 in the tournament. New Zealand’s Kyle Mills is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with 28 dismissals to his name. India has the highest win-rate at 69.23% in the history of the tournament.
Women’s cricket also has a women’s champions trophy scheduled to take place in 2027. The tournament will be held in Sri Lanka and will played in the T20 format. Six teams will take part in the tournament. Each team will play the other in a round-robin format. The top two teams will contest the finals.
