There’s quite nothing like playing in the prestigious ICC tournaments. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been hosting many tournaments where the best teams compete.
Apart from the ODI World Cup, the ICC organises a mini World Cup known as the Champions Trophy. The tournament, which started in 1998 as the ICC KnockOut Tournament, uses the ODI format.
With the ICC all set to revive the tournament in 2025, let’s look at the winners of the ICC Champions Trophy.
ICC Champions Trophy Winners: Edition by Edition
| Year | Host Country | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Bangladesh | South Africa | West Indies |
| 2000 | Kenya | New Zealand | India |
| 2002 | Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka and India | None |
| 2004 | England | West Indies | England |
| 2006 | India | Australia | West Indies |
| 2009 | South Africa | Australia | New Zealand |
| 2013 | England and Wales | India | England |
| 2017 | England and Wales | Pakistan | India |
1998 | South Africa
The tournament’s aim was to raise money to develop cricket in non-Test playing countries. So, the first edition took place in Bangladesh, which hadn’t yet gotten Test status.
It was a short tournament played on a knockout basis, with South Africa and the West Indies making it to the inaugural final. And this was the first time South Africa played in the final of an ICC event.
To add to it, the Proteas even lifted their first ICC trophy by beating the Windies in the final. South Africa were crowned the inaugural champions of the ICC Knockout Tournament.
2000 | New Zealand
11 teams participated in the second edition, including Kenya, where cricket was blooming at that time. Following the knockout stage, New Zealand and India squared off in the final.
Captain Sourav Ganguly’s brilliant 117 powered India to 264 runs. In reply, Chris Cairns’ unbeaten 102 took the Kiwis over the ropes to win their first ICC title.
2002 | Sri Lanka and India
After the financial success of the tournament, the ICC decided to organise the 50-over tourney in Test-playing nations. Furthermore, they renamed the tournament the “ICC Champions Trophy” and introduced a round-robin format, followed by the knockout stage.
Sri Lanka was the host for the third edition, which involved 12 teams, including 10 full members and 2 associate nations — Kenya and the Netherlands.
The hosts, Sri Lanka and India reached the final. But despite playing the final match twice, thanks to rain, both times it ended in no result. This resulted in Sri Lanka and India being declared joint-winners of the 2002 Champions Trophy.
2004 | West Indies
The 2004 edition saw the United States of America (USA) make its first appearance in an ICC tournament. The format was the same as in the previous edition, with England as the host.
England and the West Indies faced off in the summit clash at the Oval. The West Indies bowlers restricted the hosts to 217 runs. Later, the Windies batters struggled during the chase but pulled off a win by 2 wickets. With that, the West Indies lifted the Champions Trophy in 2004.
2006 | Australia
The fifth edition took place in India, with only 10 full members as the participants. India was the favourite to win the trophy, but their campaign ended in the group stage.
The defending champions, the West Indies, locked horns with Australia in a rain-interrupted final. The Windies openers provided a quick start, but Australian bowlers rattled them for 138 runs.
Australia started their chase, but rain halted the game for some time. With the target revised to 116 runs, the Aussies went on to win the whole thing for the first time.
2009 | Australia
Pakistan was the initial host of the sixth edition, but due to security reasons, the tournament shifted to South Africa. This time, the tournament shrank further, with only the top 8 ranked teams participating in it.
The Trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand clashed in the tournament final. To defend the title successfully, the Aussies performed like the defending champions with both the ball and bat.
They defeated the Kiwis and became the first team to win the Champions Trophy twice, that too in a row.
2013 | India
England hosted the Champions Trophy for the second time in 2013. The 2-time champions, Australia, shockingly exited the tournament after the group stage without registering a single win.
The hosts set their final with an undefeated India in Birmingham. It looked like rain would take away the day, but a thriller awaited in the box.
As the clouds cleared, the match was reduced to 20 overs per side. Batting first, India posted 129 runs on the board.
The target wasn’t big, and England were well on their way to crushing it. But 4 wickets fell in quick succession, derailing England’s chase and handing India a win by 5 runs.
With that victory, India’s former skipper MS Dhoni became the first captain to win all major ICC trophies at that time.
2017 | Pakistan
The eighth edition of the tournament was again held in England. And this edition witnessed archrivals India and Pakistan battle it out in the summit clash.
After being asked to bat first, Pakistan posted a fighting total of 338 runs. In response, India couldn’t get the start they would have desired and were beaten by a huge margin of 180 runs.
Pakistan won their maiden ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed.
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