ICC Champions Trophy: A brief history of the mini-World Cup

When the World Cup was played in 1975, ODI cricket witnessed a revolution. Until that time, World Cups were limited to football and to a certain extent, Hockey. The World Cup made multi-nation participation exciting. In the years that followed, cricket would change and more tournaments would be played. In 1998, there was the Wills Knockout Trophy. Initially, the tournament was played every two years. However, with the popularity of the 2007 World T20, the Champions Trophy is now played every four years.

But, did the Champions Trophy actually begin in 1998? There is a common misconception that the 1998 tournament was the first. In 1985, the World Championship of cricket was played between seven nations divided into two groups in Australia. This has actually been dubbed as the first Champions Trophy. India got the better of Australia, Pakistan, England and New Zealand to reach the final. In the summit clash against Pakistan, Kapil Dev and L Sivaramakrishnan starred as Pakistan managed just 176/9. Kris Srikkanth smashed 67 as India won the match by eight wickets to clinch the title.

Champions Trophy memorable instances

The Champions Trophy tournament will be remembered for the only ICC events that South Africa and New Zealand have won. New Zealand have been denied twice the ICC World Cup title. South Africa have suffered agony in the semi-finals, never making it to the final.

In 1998, South Africa defeated West Indies in Dhaka. New Zealand got the better of India in 2000. India once again entered the final but rain forced the trophy to be shared with Sri Lanka in 2002. In 2004, Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne helped West Indies win by two wickets against England.

The Indian cricket team became the second team in 2013 after the West Indies to win all three ICC events. (Image credit: Twitter)

IIn the first decade, Australia won the 2003 World Cup, 2006 and 2009 ICC Champions Trophy as well as the 2007 World Cup. In 2013, India became the second team after the West Indies to win all three ICC tournaments when they beat England in a rain-ruined final in Edgbaston to win the ICC Champions Trophy by five runs. In 2017, Pakistan finally overcame their jinx in ICC tournaments as they hammered India by a margin of 180 runs at The Oval in the final.

Memorable numbers

When one looks at the tournament, Chris Gayle is the leading run-getter with 791 runs while India’s Shikhar Dhawan not only has 701 runs but he has a strike-rate of 101. Kyle Mills of New Zealand has taken 28 wickets which is the most while Farveez Maharoof’s haul of 6/14 against West Indies in Mumbai in 2006 is the best bowling figures in the history of the tournament. Nathan Astle of New Zealand and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower have a joint highest score of 145 in the ICC Champions Trophy. In 2006, Gayle hit 474 runs and that remains the highest in one edition of the tournament.

The ICC Champions Trophy faces an existential crisis in the wake of the ICC World T20 and the ODI World Cup. With the coronavirus pandemic affecting the entire cricket calendar and with the World T20 been played in two consecutive years as well as the ODI World Cup in 2023, the ICC Champions Trophy faces uncertainty as to when the tournament will be held.