( An insight into an exciting cricketing event – Champions Trophy, by Ansh, 11)

Champions Trophy is a cricketing competition where the top 8 ODI ranked nations participate and compete with each other for the cup. This competition is organised by the ICC Cricket Board and goes a long way back – it was inaugurated as the ICC Knock out Tournament in 1998. Since the first few tournaments, which were performed as knock out tournaments, the Champions Trophy has developed into a more important event which affects the international ranking of teams. And now a lot more money is also involved.

Every year, the Champions Trophy, is hosted by a different country altogether. The first Champions Trophy was hosted by Bangladesh. And the winner was South Africa who beat West Indies by a short margin of three runs (after getting them all-out).

This Champions Trophy is being hosted by England, and the 8 nations playing are India, Pakistan, South Africa, England, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

The Champions Trophy is played in an ODI format where each team plays 50 overs each.

This year we’ll see the rise of youngsters and also find out how players chosen by the selectors actually perform. Many teams have made changes recently to their teams – seeing the fall of some players and the rise of some other newer players.