ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Schedule & Fixtures, Teams, Venue, Start Date

So, after a bit controversy, ICC is back with Champions Trophy 2017. Earlier, after the successful completion of Champions Trophy 2013 (India was the winner) held in England, ICC decided to scrap this tournament and bring Test championship into existence. But later in January 2014, ICC confirmed that the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy will be held in England. ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Schedule has been released and the good news for cricket lover is that India will be facing Pakistan in its very first match.

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Start Date, Venue

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 is going to be held in England from 1^st June. The first match of this prestigious tournament will be played between England & Bangladesh at The Oval. The tournament will start with a blistering opening ceremony and will commence on June 18. The two best performing teams will qualify for ICC Champions Trophy 2017 finals at The Oval.

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Teams & Groups

A total of eight teams will be playing in 2017 Champions Trophy. The teams have been finalized on the basis of their ODI rankings in February 2016. West Indies, unfortunately, missed out this tournament as it was on 9^th rank in ICC ODI Cricket Rankings. Bangladesh, fortunately, made it in the group of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 teams. The teams are divided into two groups which are as follows:

• Group A: Australia (1), Bangladesh (7), England (6), New Zealand (4)
• Group B: India (2), Pakistan (8), South Africa (3), Sri Lanka (5)

ICC Champions Trophy History & Winners So Far

Earlier, in 1998 and 2000, the Champions trophy was based on the knockout system. But after that, this tournament was played with round robin technique. ICC 2017 Champions Trophy will be played with round robin technique and the semi-finals and final are going to be a straight knock-out. The very first Champions Trophy 1998 tournament was won by South Africa defeating West Indies in the finals. In the year 2000, New Zealand won the trophy by defeating India. In 2002, Sri Lanka and India were the joint winners as the final match was washed out twice. In 2004, West Indies won this trophy thrashing England in the finals. In 2006, Australia thrashed West Indies in finals.

In 2008, the Champions Trophy was going to be held in Pakistan, but due to major security concerns, it was postponed to 2009. Australia again won this tournament defeating New Zealand. In 2013, the winner was India, who defeated England in the rain-affected the final match. After that ICC decided to scrap this tournament and start a Test Championship. But this idea was dropped out and the Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament was scheduled to 2017.

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Schedule & Fixtures

ICC announces the 2017 Champions Trophy schedule on June 1, a year before that start of Champions Trophy in 2017. ICC Champions Trophy 2017 fixtures are really interesting as the groups are distributed evenly. Some of the matches will be played as Day matches while some will be played as Day/Night matches, according to the schedule. The Day matches will start at 10.30 UK time while the Day/Night matches will start at 13.30 UK time. Here is the ICC Champions Trophy Schedule 2017: