The most popular One-day International cricket tournament after the Cricket World Cup is ICC Champions Trophy. This tournament was inaugurated in 1998 as the ICC Knock-Out Tournament and has been played after every two years since then.
The name of this tournament changed to ICC Champions Trophy in 2002. The number of teams varied over the years, however, only the top eight teams have participated in Champions Trophy since 2009. The current champion as of 2009 is the Australian cricket team.
Here is the list of previous winners :
■ 1998 ICC Knock out Tournament: This tournament was held in Bangladesh and was won by South Africa who beat West Indies in the final.
■ 2000 ICC Knock out Tournament: This tournament was played in Kenya and involved three qualifying matches before the quarter-finals including Sri Lanka, Kenya, India, England, Bangladesh, and West Indies. New Zealand won this tournament by defeating India.
■ 2002 ICC Champions Trophy: It was held in Sri Lanka and 12 teams played in this tournament. The winners of this trophy were Sri Lanka and India as the final played between the teams was washed out twice.
■ 2004 ICC Champions Trophy: It was held in England and 15 matches were held. 12 teams competed where West Indies won the tournament after defeating England in the final.
■ 2006 ICC Champions Trophy: It was held in India and 8 teams were divided into four groups. Australia won this tournament after defeating West Indies.
■ 2009 ICC Champions Trophy: It was held in South Africa. This tournament was won by Australia by defeating New Zealand in the final.
Records in Champions Trophy
Batting records of Champions Trophy
Leading run-scorers of Champions Trophy
■ Chris Gayle of West Indian cricket team- Scored 695 runs in 14 matches
■ Saurav Ganguly of the Indian cricket team: Scored 665 runs in 13 matches
■ Jacques Kallis of the South African cricket team: Scored 653 runs in 17 matches
■ Rahul Dravid of India: Scored 627 runs in 19 matches
■ Ricky Ponting of Australian cricket team: Scored 593 runs in 18 balls
Highest individual score by a player in Champions Trophy
■ Nathan Astle (145*)
■ Any Flower (145)
■ Sourav Ganguly (141*)
■ Sachin Tendulkar (141)
■ Graeme Smith (141)
Bowling records
Leading wicket-takers
■ Muttiah Muralitharan: 24 wickets in 17 matches
■ Kyle Mills: 22 wickets in 12 matches
■ Brett Lee: 22 wickets in 16 matches
■ Glenn McGrath: 21 wickets in 12 matches
■ Jacques Kallis: 20 wickets in 17 matches
Best bowling figures in ICC Champions Trophy