5 international players who never played the Champions Trophy
The ICC Champions Trophy competition began way back in 1998 when it was called the ICC Knockout Trophy. The name was changed in 2002 and ever since, it is known as the Champions Trophy with the top 8 teams of the world taking on each other to lift the coveted title.
Although the best in the business lock horns against each other, there have been some prolific international cricketers who were never fortunate enough to play the tournament despite being among the finest to have represented their respective teams.
The reasons behind players of such high pedigree missing out can be attributed to them playing lesser limited-overs cricket or specialists in the shorter formats being preferred over them. Let’s take a look at some of those unfortunate players.
#1 Justin Langer
Justin Langer is easily one of the finest openers to have represented Australia in international cricket. The southpaw donned the Australian jersey in 105 Tests in a career spanning over 14 years and scored more than 7000 runs at an average of just over 45.
Langer, together with fellow opener Matthew Hayden formed a great partnership and they were the most formidable Test opening pair in the early 2000s.
However, the Aussie’s ODI career lasted just 8 matches in which he could only manage 160 runs without a single half-century. This is why he did not get to play in the Champions Trophy despite being a big name in Australian cricket.
Also, he is perhaps the only batsman from the golden era of Australian cricket who has not even played for his team at the World Cup.