Champions Trophy history – interesting facts and figures you need to know
Whether next year’s Champions Trophy will be played in Pakistan remains in the balance. And whether the International Cricket Council decide to retain the tournament in the future is a doubt.
Regardless, the Champions Trophy has been a longstanding mainstay in ODI cricket for many years – and has churned out many records along the way.
Here, we look at some of the individual and collective milestones collected during the competition, since its inception in 1998.
Who has won the most Champions Trophy titles?
Australia and India are the most successful teams in the history of the Champions Trophy with two titles each. The Aussies won back-to-back tournaments across 2006 and 2009. India shared the title with Sri Lanka in 2002 before clinching it as their own in 2013.
South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan have won the Champions Trophy title once each. England are still pursuing a maiden Champions Trophy title after losing two finals in 2004 and 2013.
Who has scored the most runs in the Champions Trophy?
West Indies batter Chris Gayle is the top run-scorer in the history of the tournament with 791 in 17 innings – this tally includes three centuries and a half-ton. He hit 474 of the 791 in the 2006 tournament.
Gayle is one of four players with three centuries in the Champions Trophy. The others are Herschelle Gibbs, Sourav Ganguly and Shikhar Dhawan.
Gayle does not play ODI cricket anymore. Among active players, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Joe Root have impressive Champions Trophy records. All three could feature at the next edition of the Champions Trophy in 2025.
Read more: These are the 9 biggest sixes in the history of cricket
Who has taken the most Champions Trophy wickets?
New Zealand seamer Kyle Mills is top of the pops here. He took 28 of his 240 ODI wickets during the Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan managed 25 and 24, respectively.
Australia‘s Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath too 22 and 21, respectively. The spinner with the most Champions Trophy wickets is Daniel Vettori with 18. Ravindra Jadeja is the top Champions Trophy wicket-taker among active players – he has 16 in 10 fixtures.
Has the Champions Trophy included smaller nations?
Afghanistan will make their Champions Trophy debut in 2025. Kenya featured in 2002, 2002 and 2004. Netherlands were there in 2002, while the United States of America participated in 2004.
Zimbabwe played in the first five editions of the Champions Trophy, but have not been included in the four since.
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