ICC Champions Trophy: A flashback of the tournament

ICC KnockOut Trophy 2000

New Zealand defeated India in a nail-biting final

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)