ICC Champions Trophy might be scrapped after 2021

The proposed introduction of a league system in One Day International Cricket has once again led to a debate regarding the viability of the ICC Champions Trophy.

It is expected the International Cricket Committee will scrap the league after the 2021 tournament which is scheduled to be held in India. There are other reports which suggest the tournament might well be scrapped after the 2017 tournament held in England.

It is worth mentioning that the tournament which is stipulated to be held next year was also the last moment decision, considering the huge success of the 2013 Champions Trophy. Also, the 2017 Trophy has replaced the World Test Championship.

Many within the ICC feel that a Champions Trophy would be reduced to a redundant entity after the league system is in place along with the World Cup. The ICC is mulling an ODI league comprising 13 nations which might be rolled out from 2019. There will be two leagues and it would culminate in a play-off between the top two sides in 2022.

In order to decongest the International calendar, the proposal to hold the World T20 after every four years will also come up for discussion at the forthcoming ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh. There is no denying the fact that the condensed nature of the Champions Trophy has always captured the attention of everyone in the world of cricket, but the ICC has always been sceptical about holding two multinational tournaments for one format.

This and the fact that the league system will add more context to the format might finally convince the ICC and the members to scrap the tournament altogether. Hence, the discussion around the World T20 also assumes prominence, as the financial impact of a scrapped ICC tournament might be managed if the current format of the World T20 is continued, that is held after every two years.

If in the event of the 2021 tournament being scrapped, India would get an opportunity to host either the 2022 World T20 or the 2024 World T20.