Through time, India has gradually gown into the pilgrim of the cricket players and cricket fans from all over the globe. The country with a population of billions, cricket is the undisputed leader of the sports here. The passion for the game is deep rooted in the society to the extent that most people either want to be a cricketer themselves or if not at least they become the ardent viewers of the cricket leagues. Needless to mention, during any tournament tuning into the sports channels to watch the match becomes a mandatory practise. On the bright side, thanks to fantasy cricket sites nowadays that enables passionate cricket fans to play fantasy cricket and thus renders a feel similar to the thrill of the real game.
Having said all these, thus the ICC (International Cricket Council) World Cup is the biggest cricket tournament in the world followed by its sister tournament ICC Champions Trophy. The champions trophy, similar to the ICC World Cup is a ODI tournament that started in 1998. Inaugurated as the ICC Knockout Tournament, the league was initially played to raise funds for the development of the game in non-test playing countries. The commercial success of the game then prompted the Council to carry on the tournament at regular intervals. Here is a list of ICC Champions Trophy finals and their winners. 1998, Bangladesh Winner- Bangladesh This was the earliest edition of the game and was named the ICC Knockout Tournament as the game was played in a Knockout Format. For those who are not familiar with the format, it is a single-elimination method where teams whoever will lose, at any point of the game will immediately be eliminated. This was participated by nine teams -Australia, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and England, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. West Indies and England qualified automatically. New Zealand and Zimbabwe on the other hand played a pre-qualifier, which New Zealand won, to get into the tournament. All matches were played in Dhaka. This was one of the most successful tournament of South Africa where it defeated England in the quarter final by 6 wickets and 20 balls and went on to thrash Sri Lanka by 92 runs. In the final against West Indies, the Proteas chased down a target of 246 with four wickets and three overs to spare. . Jacques Kallis went on to become Player of the tournament, amassing 164 runs at 82 including a hundred against Sri Lanka. The match was concluded with South Africa winning the tournament. 2000, Kenya Winner: New Zealand This second version of the tournament was also played in the Knock-out format. However, the number of teams were reduced from seven to five, with three berths up for grabs in the pre-qualifying round. The five teams that gained automatic qualification were Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa. India, England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Kenya were the six teams that fought for the remaining three berths with India, Sri Lanka and England making the cut. New Zealand won with four wickets and two balls to spare in its chase of 265. Chris Cairns, the all rounder, scored a fine hundred to give New Zealand its only win at an ICC event to date. This tournament also established Indian Cricket Team as a team which could pose a serious challenge. Ganguly, the India skipper, topped the batting charts with 348 runs at an average of 116. Top run-scorer: Sourav Ganguly – 348 runs Top wicket-taker: Venkatesh Prasad – 8 wickets 2002, Sri Lanka Winner: Shared between India and Sri Lanka In 2002, the tournament's format was changed and it came to be called the ICC Champions Trophy. All games were played in Colombo, between R Premadasa and Sinhalese Sports Complex. The tournament featured 12 teams, including the 10 Full Members by direct qualification. Kenya and the Netherlands were the two other teams. The 12 teams were split into four groups, with the topper proceeding to the semi-finals. Australia, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa were the four teams that emerged on top. India qualified for the finals by defeating South Africa, whereas Sri Lanka had an easy win against Australia. Unfortunately, the final match was interrupted by the rain and while Sri Lanka scored 244 for 5 in its 50 overs, India in their innings scored 14 for no loss in two overs. On the reserve day, the host nation got to 222 for 7 and India reached 38 for 1 in eight overs before rain ruined chance of a result. As a consequence, both the teams were declared as winners. Virender Sehwag secured 271 runs from five games at an average of 90.33 including a ton and a half-century, while Muttiah Muralitharan topped the bowling charts. 2004, England Winner: West Indies Like the previous edition, all 10 Test-playing teams gained automatic qualification and Kenya qualified by virtue of its ODI status. The semi-finalists, i.e the toppers of the four groups, were Australia, the West Indies, Pakistan and England. England beat Australia in the first semi-final, while the West Indies triumphed over Pakistan. In a low-scoring thriller at The Oval, the West Indies put England in the shade by just two wickets and seven balls to spare in its chase of 218. The West Indies was reeling at 147 for 8 at one stage, but a resilient unbeaten 71-run stand between Courtney Browne, the wicket-keeper, and Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm bowler, took it past the line Player of the Series: Ramnaresh Sarwan Top run-scorer: Marcus Trescothick – 261 runs Top wicket-taker: Andrew Flintoff – 9 wickets 2009, South Africa Winner: Australia This was an eventful tournament with top eight ODI teams participated in the competition, with the top two from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. After its game against India was washed out, Australia faced a must-win game against Pakistan in the group stage. Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz got Australia over the line by two wickets in a thrilling low-scoring contest. Then, in the first semi-final, Australia defeated England, before going on to trump New Zealand, who had defeated Pakistan, in the final to retain the title. Shane Watson scored blistering centuries in both the matches, and was the pillar around whom Australia's wins were built. Ricky Ponting was the able captain who led the chart of run scorers Player of the tournament: Ricky Ponting Top run-scorer: Ricky Ponting – 288 runs Top wicket-taker: Wayne Parnell – 11 wickets 2013, England Winner: India Under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian Cricket Team successfully bagged the trophy. However, similar to the last tournament this final was also almost ruined by rain where the 50 over match was reduced to 20 overs. India could only manage 129 with the help of cameos from Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan, the team's mainstay through the competition. Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara almost took the home side over the line, but Ishant Sharma got rid of both of them in consecutive deliveries to script a five-run win. Player of the tournament: Shikhar Dhawan Top run-scorer: Shikhar Dhawan – 363 runs Top wicket-taker: Wayne Parnell – 12 wickets
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