ICC Champions Trophy 2017: The format

It is only a matter of hours before the 2017 Champions Trophy gets underway. Hosts and one of the pre-tournament favourites England take on Bangladesh in the tournament opener at The Oval in London.

The 2004 winners West Indies will not be taking part in the tournament as they are ranked 9th in the world below Pakistan, thus making it the first time that an ICC tournament will not have one of its former champions playing in the tournament.

From 1998 to 2006, the Champions Trophy was held every two years and a tournament was scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2008 but was moved to South Africa in 2009 due to security concerns. Ever since then, the tournament has been held every four years.

Since its inception in 1998, the Champions Trophy has witnessed four different formats. In the 1998 and 2000 editions, the tournament was a straight knockout with the lowest ranked nations first playing each other in a preliminary match which was followed by the quarters, semi-finals, and the final and was known at that time as the ICC Mini World Cup.

In 2002 and 2004, 12 nations played in the tournament and were pooled into four groups of three teams with the winners of each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

In 2006, 10 teams took part. A qualifying round was held where the four lowest ranked teams would play each other in a round-robin format with the top two teams qualifying for the main tournament. The main tournament was another round-robin format where the other eight teams were pooled into two groups with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.

The format of the 2009 and 2013 tournaments were different from the 2006 tournament since only eight teams took part and that is the format which will be followed in this tournament too.

The 2017 format and criteria

Based on the ICC rankings, the top eight ranked teams receive a berth in the Champions Trophy. The cut-off date for the Champions Trophy qualification this time was 30th September 2015 and till then, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan were the top eight ranked teams, thus gaining qualification for the tournament.

These eight teams have been pooled in two groups of four teams. Group A comprises of England, Australia, New Zealand, and Bangladesh and the round-robin games will begin with England taking on Bangladesh today following which Australia take on New Zealand tomorrow. The next leg of Group A games will see Australia taking on Bangladesh following which England will take on New Zealand. The final leg of Group A games will involve New Zealand taking on Bangladesh and England taking on Australia.

Group B features India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan with the first leg of group games beginning on 3rd June when South Africa will take on Sri Lanka following the highly awaited Indo-Pak encounter on 4th June. The second leg of Group B matches will see Pakistan taking on South Africa followed by India’s game against Sri Lanka. The final leg of Group B matches will see India taking on South Africa following which Pakistan take on Sri Lanka.

Each team will be awarded two points for a win and a point if the match is abandoned/washed out. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. In case, more than one team are tied on points, then they will be separated by net run rate.

The winner of Group A will take on the runner-up of Group B in the first semi-final at Sophia Gardens at Cardiff on the 14th of June and the winner of Group B will take on the runner-up of Group A at Edgbaston. The winner of both semi-finals will play the final at The Oval in London on 18th June.