Only about 10  countries in the World play Test Cricket.  8 of these are participating in the Champions Trophy.  If you go by the name given to the Trophy, the winner is considered the Champion among these 8 teams.

Pre Tournament Favourites:- Sri Lanka, India, Australia & South Africa were among the favourites to win the trophy.  England, New Zealand and West Indiies were supposed to be knocked out

Format:- Eventhough there are only 8 teams, two groups have been made of 4 each.  Each team gets to play 3 matches only, If for example a strong team like Sri Lanka or India have 2 bad days, they are out of the tournament. which is going to happen now in all likelihood as South Africa are already out of the tournament.  Similarly weak teams like England who got thrashed 6-1 by Australia, on the basis of 2 good days have entered the semi finals.

Flaw in the Format:- The flaw in the format is that a team like England or New Zealand could win the Champions Trophy without having faced heavyweights like India or Australia. One cannot understand how a weak team can become the Champion without even facing a team which is ranked higher than it.

Suggestions for a better format :- These 8 teams should have been put in the same group wherein all teams would be playing against each other with the team with highest number of wins as the winner or alternately the top 4 will reach the semi finals, then the finals and the champion. This format would have ensured that not the most fortunate but the most talented team wins the Trophy

Regards

Satish

• Written by N R SATISH.
• In category Cricket.
• 15 years ago.

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