ICC Champions Trophy 2017 teams confirmed; West Indies out, Bangladesh in
The eight teams for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy have been confirmed by the ICC. Bangladesh returns to the tournament for the first time since 2006 after their tremendous run of form in the ODI format since the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Bangladesh replaced West Indies to climb up to the 7th spot in the ICC ODI Rankings as on the cut-off date 30 September 2015. The tournament is scheduled to be played in England from June 1 to 18, 2017.
The last appearance of Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy was when they played the qualifying round in the 2006 edition, which was hosted in India. In that tournament, they lost two games against Sri Lanka and West Indies, and won their only game against Zimbabwe.
Since edging England to make the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup, Bangladesh has been in red-hot form in the 50-over format of the game. They put in strong and consistent performances and won their home ODI series against Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India and South Africa which helped them jump from ninth to seventh in the ODI ranking table.
The teams that have made it to the Champions Trophy include World Champions Australia, defending champions India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, hosts England, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Pakistan, who were doubtful to make the tournament after being ranked ninth earlier this year made it as the eighth team following successful campaigns against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
This news comes as a further setback to former Champions Trophy winners, West Indies, who are without their coach Phil Simmons, who was suspended for comments he made about the ODI team selection. The West Indies squad have not played any ODI match since their World Cup campaign ended, which hindered any possibility of going up in the rankings.
The 2017 Champions Trophy edition will be a 15-match tournament. Teams will be split into two pools of four each, with the top two teams from each of the groups progressing through to the semi-finals. The groups and the schedule are yet to be announced.
The next big date is September 30, 2017 when teams will do their best to finish in the top eight in order to secure direct entry for the 10-team 2019 World Cup, scheduled to be held in England. The bottom four sides will get another crack at qualifying by competing in a 10-team World Cup qualifier that will also consist of teams from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018.