After the unprecedented success of the ODI World Cup, the International Cricket Council planned to come up with its sister tournament in 1998 - the ICC knockout ODI tournament. All the cricketing nations under the ICC participated in the tournament, which was to be played once every 2 years.
Three years down the line, the tournament was renamed to the Champions Trophy in 2002. In 2009, due to strenuous schedule of the teams, the ICC announced that only eight top teams of the World would compete in the prestigious 50-overs tournament.
In 2013, news had it that that edition of the Champions Trophy would be the last one, and that it would be swapped by an ICC World Test Championship. However, due to the lopsided interest from fans in Test cricket and ODI, the former was deemed more suitable for the audience.
With the 8th edition of the tournament already upon us, here's a brief history of how the tourney panned out from 1998 to 2013.
ICC KnockOut Trophy 1998
Called the Wills International Cup back in the day, the tournament was held in Bangladesh with an aim to popularise the sport in the country. All nine of the then-test playing nations took part in the tourney, with New Zealand and Zimbabwe fighting it out in a preliminary quarterfinal for a place in the main draw.
In what turned out to be a belter of an opening match of the tournament, the Blackcaps managed to trump the African team by five wickets, scoring the winning runs off the last delivery of the match.
The knockout format of the tournament made it all the more exhilarating, with teams fully aware that a slip here or there will lead to their ousting. With that in mind, next day, South Africa and England locked horns. Both the teams had never won an ICC tournament prior to this, and courtesy of half-centuries from Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes the Proteas kept their dreams alive.
Muttiah Muralitharan then made NZ dance on his tunes in the next fixture, which saw the Kiwis bundle out for 188, which Sri Lanka, then then-world champions, chased with five wickets to spare. The third quarterfinal saw India taking on Australia, who were once again taken apart by Sachin Tendulkar, six months after the Sharjah debacle. Men in Blue posted 307 on the board, courtesy a scintillating century from the Little Master.
Australia succumbed to the scoreboard pressure and could only manage 263 to bow out of the tournament. West Indies then trumped Pakistan in the last quarterfinal to set up a last-four clash with India as South Africa played Sri Lanka in the other semifinal.
In what was a rain-curtailed encounter, Jacques Kallis came to life and scored a blistering century to powered South Africa to 240 in 39 overs. Steve Elworthy and Pat Symcox then bagged three wickets each to bowl Sri Lanka out on 132 and help the Proteas reach their first ever ICC-tournament final.
In the other semifinal, Mervyn Dillon made sure India do not run away like they did in their previous encounter. On the back of Sourav Ganguly’s 83, the Men in Blue posted 240 on the board, which the Caribbean outfit chased down with six wickets and three overs to spare, setting up a final with South Africa.
The final saw Philo Wallace bang a century, but none of his West Indian teammates was able to lend him a helping hand and they could only manage a paltry 245. The skipper, Cronje came to life with the bat yet again and helped his side chase down the target in 47 overs which saw the Proteas winning an ICC tournament for the first time.
However, the hero of the final was the 23-year-old Kallis, picking up five wickets and scoring 37 runs.
What everyone thought would be a first of many tournament-wins for the African side, turned out to be the only feather in their cap thus far.
Leading run-scorer: Philo Wallace (221 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Jacques Kallis (8 wickets)
Also Read: Champions Trophy 2017: 5 reasons why South Africa can win the trophy
ICC KnockOut Trophy 2000
Like the first edition, this one was hosted by another cricket minnow, Kenya. This time, there were three preliminary quarterfinals played, with the winners gaining a spot in the main draw. The first match saw two of sport’s future legends, 22-year-old Zaheer Khan and 19-year-old Yuvraj Singh, making their debuts.
While the former made his mark with a three-wicket haul, the left-hander from Chandigarh didn’t get a chance to bat as Indian top order of Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid and Kambli take India past the line against Kenya. Sri Lanka then ousted last edition’s finalists West Indies, riding on Avishka Gunawardene’s century.
England, too, didn’t make a mess out of their match up against Bangladesh, something which they are more than capable of doing now, and made it to the main draw where they would face defending champions South Africa.
India took on Australia in the quarterfinal for the second edition running. Yuvraj Singh, playing only his second match, put up a commendable performance and helped India to a decent total of 265 after the top order had failed. The Kangaroos eventually fell short by 20 runs and bowed out of the tournament despite having the best team by far.
In the second QF, Wasim Akram and Azhar Mahmood ran through the Sri Lankan batting line up as Pakistan registered a comfortable 9 wickets win. New Zealand then made light work of Zimbabwe and defeated them by 64 runs to set up a semifinal clash with Pakistan.
Another one-sided affair in the fourth match saw South Africa thrash England by 8 wickets and start their title defence on a high.
In the first semifinal, Saeed Anwar came to life, smashing New Zealand bowlers to all parts of the park en route his 115-ball-104 and help his team post a competitive total of 252. However, half-centuries from Roger Twose and Craig McMilan ensured that Shayne O’Connor’s five-wicket haul didn’t go waste as the Kiwis cemented a spot for themselves in the final.
South Africa, on the other hand, after the anomaly in the last edition faltered yet again in the semifinal of an ICC tournament and lost to a ruthless Indian team. Ganguly was the tormentor in chief as he raced his way to a 142-ball-141 and carried his bat to help the Men in Blue to 295, a score which the Proteas fell short of by 95 runs.
Ganguly’s blistering form continued as he smashed yet another century in a nail-biting final. However, Chris Cairns had other ideas as after walking in at number five, he made sure that the Kiwis cross the line with two balls to spare and win their first ICC tournament.
The KnockOut Trophy was going as per plan and two of the teams who had never won the World Cup, bagged apparently the second most important cricket tourney in its first two editions.
Leading run-scorer: Sourav Ganguly (348 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Venkatesh Prasad (8 wickets)
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: New Zealand Predicted XI
ICC Champions Trophy 2002
The third edition of the tournament, which was hosted by Sri Lanka, saw ICC changing the format from knock-out to a round robin one. Four groups of three teams each were formed, and the winner of each would go on to play the semifinal.
Usual suspects, Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka came out on top in their respective groups, winning both their matches. Most notable of all the group stage matches was the one between India and England. Both the teams, having won their previous encounter against Bangladesh came into the match knowing that a win would cement their place in the semifinal.
The Three Lions batted first and posted a respectable total of 269, courtesy Ian Blackwell’s 82. However, Indian openers, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly had other ideas in mind as they took the English bowlers to cleaners, scoring a century each and ensuring India bomb through to the semifinal, winning the match by eight wickets.
South Africa were once again India’s opponents in the semifinal, and like in the previous edition, they bottled it up yet again. Herschelle Gibbs and Kallis were making light work of India’s 261 and added 178 runs for the second wicket before the former retired hurt. The Proteas needed just 70 more runs, with Kallis batting on 63 and eight wickets in hand.
However, what followed was a complete capitulation as the Men in Blue applied immense pressure and made South Africa crumble. Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh wreaked havoc as India went on to win the match by 10 runs.
Sri Lanka, in the other semifinal, swept aside Australia by seven wickets to set up a mouth-watering final with India. However, rain played spoilsport as two consecutive days of the final were washed out. In both of these matches, Sri Lanka batted first and planted scores of 244 and 222 respectively, which might have been easy targets for a swell Indian batting line-up.
The rain didn’t subside and the Asian giants ended up sharing the trophy.
Leading run-scorer: Virender Sehwag (271 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Muttiah Muralitharan (10 wickets)
ICC Champions Trophy 2004
The fourth edition of the tournament, played in England, carried a similar format as the last one and had 12 teams divided equally into four groups. This was the first time that the United States of America took part in the competition, pooled alongside Australia and New Zealand.
India and Pakistan, for the first time in Champions Trophy, were pooled together, with Kenya being the third team in their group. England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe comprised of one group while West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh were clubbed in one.
The presence of a number of minnows meant there were quite a few low-scoring affairs in the tournament, with the USA getting bowled out on 66 against Australia, Kenya were dismissed for 93 against Pakistan and Bangladesh for 93 against South Africa.
In arguably the biggest match of the tournament, India lost to Pakistan in a thrilling low-scoring encounter and bowed out of the tourney before the semifinals for the first time. South Africa as well failed to make it to the last four this time as West Indies trumped them by 5 wickets.
The first semifinal saw England defeat perennial rivals Australia by six wickets and reach their first ICC tournament final in a long time. West Indies, in the other last-four encounter, trounced Pakistan by seven wickets and make their second CT final.
England batted first in the final and despite Marcus Trescothick's century, posted a lowly 217 runs on the board. However, the Three Lions came out firing in the second innings and had one hand on the trophy after the Caribbean outfit was down to 147 for the loss of eight wickets.
Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw then rewrote history books as they added 71 runs in 91 balls for the ninth wicket to see their team through and win the prestigious competition for the first time.
Leading run-scorer: Marcus Trescothick (261 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Andrew Flintoff (9 wickets)
ICC Champions Trophy 2006
The tournament, which was played after every two years then, was hosted by India for the first time. The number of teams was brought down to 10, with all the test playing nations taking part in the tourney.
Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe had to play a qualifying round, and the top two made it to the main draw. Naturally, the former two teams triumphed, with Lanka winning all their matches and WI defeating the lesser teams.
Following the preliminary round, two groups of four teams each were formed. Australia, West Indies, India and England were clubbed into one group, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa in the other.
India were expected to dominate the tournament being the home team, however, after a dominating performance in the first match against England, their charge fizzled out. However, the good thing about the tourney was that none of the top teams went home without a win to their name.
After a topsy-turvy group stage, which didn’t see a lot of runs being scored, West Indies, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand made it to the last four.
The two Trans-Tasmanian rivals met each other in the first semifinal, where Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds scored a half century each and helped Australia to a respectable total of 240 runs.
New Zealand, however, fell like a pack of cards to Glenn McGrath’s meticulous bowling and were reeling at 35 for 6 before Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram stitched a partnership worth 103 runs for the seventh wicket. Symonds then removed Oram and soon the Kiwis succumbed to a 34-runs defeat but not before Vettori slammed a half-century himself.
In the second semifinal at Jaipur, Riding on Herschelle Gibbs’s 77, South Africa amassed 258 runs. However, a certain Chris Gayle spoiled their party, scoring a century and making sure that West Indies make it to the final and defend their title.
A rain-affected final saw West Indies getting bowled out for 138 runs, with Nathan Bracken picking three wickets. Shane Watson, who also bagged a couple of wickets himself, raced to a half-century as the Kangaroos chased down the revised total of 116 in 28.1 overs and added the trophy which was missing from their cabinet for long.
Leading run-scorer: Chris Gayle (474 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Jerome Taylor (13 wickets)
ICC Champions Trophy 2009
For the first time in its 10-year long history, the Champions Trophy was played after a gap of three years, not two. The reason being host for the 2008 edition, Pakistan, were not able to satisfy ICC that their nation is safe enough to host the tourney following an attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus.
The tournament was shifted to South Africa eventually which saw the top eight teams feature in two groups of four each. Australia, the defending champions, won their group, consisting of India, Pakistan and West Indies, comprehensively with Michael Hussey firing for them.
Pakistan were the second team from the group to qualify for the semis as they trumped arch-rivals India and West Indies as well, before losing to Australia in the last group stage encounter.
The other group saw each of South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England winning one match each. However, when push came to shove, the Kiwis, after losing their opening match, won the remaining two and topped the group. England won a couple of matches as well as hosts South Africa and Sri Lanka bowed out despite putting up a decent show.
Watson, who was the star for Australia in the last edition, took the semifinal against England by storm and bagged a couple of wickets along with belting a century in the second innings to help the Aussies win the match by 9 wickets. Skipper Ricky Ponting scored a century as well and took his team to the final with aplomb.
The second semifinal saw Ian Butler and Daniel Vettori sharing seven Pakistani wickets among them as the Asian giants somehow managed to add 233 runs. Grant Eliott, who as we all know, helped NZ defeat South Africa in the World Cup 2015 semifinal, played a match-winning knock of 75 and along with Vettori’s 41 took his team home.
A Trans-Tasmania final was on the cards and Australia once again stamped their authority as they restricted New Zealand to a score of 200 and then chased the total down with six wickets to spare. Watson was the hero once again as he smashed yet another century and helped Australia to their second CT title.
Leading run-scorer: Ricky Ponting (288 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Wayne Parnell (11 wickets)
ICC Champions Trophy 2013
After the 2009 edition, ICC decided that this tournament will be played after a gap of four years, like the World Cup. Again, the top eight teams were divided into groups of four, with the top two making it to the semifinals of the tournament which was played in England and Wales.
Australia, probably for the first time, were not one of the favourites and finished bottom of their group comprising of themselves, England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. England looked strong on their home turf and finished atop the group with Sri Lanka finishing second. Both the teams from Down Under were eliminated.
In the other group, India won all their three matches, against South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan comfortably. Shikhar Dhawan was the star of the show with two centuries and a composed innings against Pakistan in a low-scoring affair.
The Proteas and West Indies played out a tie as well in a rain-curtailed match and ended up with the same number of points. However, the African team made it to the semi-finals courtesy of a better net run-rate.
The first semifinal between and South Africa was played at the Oval and the hosts trumped the latter by seven wickets, with Stuard Broad and James Tredwell picking up three wickets each and Jonathan Trott scoring a half-century.
The second semifinal saw India restricting Sri Lanka to a paltry 188 before Dhawan and Virat Kohli scored half-centuries to take India home and cement their spot in the final.
The final was set to be played at the Oval, however, continuous rain delayed the start of the match, so much so that the game was reduced to 20-over per side. India batted first but failed to assert their domination over the English bowlers and managed to out 129 runs on the board.
The hosts were cruising towards the title with Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara at the crease, needing 20 runs to win in three overs. However, their wickets fell on consecutive deliveries in the 18th over and the match flipped on its head.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled the final two overs and restricted England to 124 as India won the tournament for the second time in history. This tournament also etched MS Dhoni’s name in history books as he became the only captain to win all three ICC tournaments.
This was supposed to be the seventh and last Champions Trophy, with a Test Championship scheduled to take place in 2017. However, as things turned out, we are set to have yet another edition of the second biggest cricket tournament on the planet.
Leading run-scorer: Shikhar Dhawan (363 runs)
Leading wicket-taker: Ravindra Jadeja (12 wickets)
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: 5 reasons why India will win the tournament
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