Why is West Indies not playing the Champions Trophy 2017?

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 is underway and the cricket fanatics all around the globe are excited to see the best teams battling for the trophy. England, like in the last edition, is hosting the tournament and will hope to make the final hurdle this time after falling short in the last edition.

West Indies have one of the most enviable records in England, having won the World Cup in 1975 and 1979 before winning the 2004 edition of the Champions Trophy at the home of the Three Lions. However, unfortunately, the Champions Trophy will not see West Indies as a part of the reputed series for the first time. The Windies delivered an outstanding performance in World T20 but their downfall in ODIs ever since made this year's Champions Trophy slip away.

With big names such as Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell in their ranks, everyone had huge expectations from the team. However, the disheartening part is that none of these players have made an appearance in an ODI since 2015 owing to their conflict with the West Indies Cricket Board.

Champions Trophy over the years

Introduced in 1998, it is arguably the second most prestigious tournament hosted by ICC after the ICC World Cup. Earlier known as the ICC Knock Out Tournament, all the the major teams used to participate in the tournament. It was rechristened as the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002.

And since 2009, this tournament has witnessed the top eight teams (according to the ICC ODI rankings) fight it out for the title. India and Australia are the only two teams to win this coveted trophy twice. England, on the other hand, are the only participating team which has never won the title.

The qualifying is decided as per the ICC ranking of the ODI teams based on a deadline decided by the ICC.

Why is West Indies not a part of this year's edition?

But ICC Champions Trophy will encounter one huge alteration in its tradition of hosting the Caribbeans this year. The West Indies team failed to qualify for the tournament this time around as they couldn't make it into the top eight teams in the ICC ranking as per the release on 1st September 2015 – which was decided as the deadline for this year’s event.

Halted at the 9^th position on the list at the time meant that this is the first time that the Windies will not be a part of the Champions Trophy.

West Indies still had an outside chance depending on the results of Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, with Bangladesh defeating South Africa and India and Pakistan coming up trumps against Zimbabwe the West Indies team had to bid adieu to their hopes of playing in the Champions Trophy this year.

The West Indies team have not been performing according to the expectations for a long time now except in the T20 arena. The World T20 champs had a tough time with their board and that has been one of the biggest factors that have essentially impacted their performance.