Dhaka, 11 Feb - Bangladesh are all set to go to play Champions Trophy this year as the second most experienced team after Australia.
Bangladesh have six players in their team, having experienced to play the
last Champions Trophy, which was held in England in 2017. The Tigers, as it
was adorably called, achieved their best result in ICC tournament in that
event by moving to the semifinal.
Australia top the list in terms of number of players playing the last
Champions Trophy with seven players-- Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn
Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh
Hazlewood.
For Maxwell and Starc, it would be their third Champions Trophy.
Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Soumya Sarkar,
Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed were the members of the Bangladesh in
2017.
India are next in line after Bangladesh, with five of their cricketers having
played in the Champions Trophy before-- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik
Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Amongst the five players, Kohli
and Rohit will play their third Champions Trophy.
Champions Trophy was first held in Bangladesh in 1998, in the name of
'International Cup'. Bangladesh hosted the tournament at a time when they
didn't even get the Test status. South Africa became champions in that
inaugural edition.
Two years later, New Zealand won the 'ICC Knockout' trophy, which was held in
Kenya.
The tournament got its name as ICC Champions Trophy in 2002, when Sri Lanka
and India became joint champions. Then in 2004, West Indies lifted the trophy
before Australia clinched it in 2006 and 2009 in a row. India won the trophy
in 2013 while Pakistan are now the defending champions after winning the last
tournament in 2017.
There are three cricketers in each of the four teams who have played in at
least one of these eight tournaments. New Zealand's Kane Williamson will be
playing his third and Tom Latham, Mitchell Santner will be playing their
second Champions Trophy.
Pakistan also have three players --Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman and Faheem
Ashraf-- but this will be their second tournament, having played in the
tournament for the first time in 2017.
England also has three players-- Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid. Root
and Buttler are playing their third and Rashid will be playing his second
Champions Trophy.
South Africa has the same number-- David Miller, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav
Maharaj-- will be playing their second Champions Trophy.BSS