India, SA, NZ, Eng & Aus Enter Champions Trophy as Teams to Beat
Here’s a look at the top five teams in the ICC ODI rankings ahead of the Champions Trophy.
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With all teams through with their warm-up games, the top 8 teams in the world are ready to take on each other in the ICC Champions Trophy.
The competition begins with England facing off against Bangladesh at the Oval in London on 1 June.
South Africa are the number one ranked ODI side at the moment. Can they finally shed the tag of chokers by winning an ICC title?
Here’s a look at the five strongest teams entering this year’s Champions Trophy.
South Africa
Series victories over India (away), England, New Zealand (twice), and 5-0 whitewashes against Australia and Sri Lanka in the last two years have lifted South Africa to Number 1.
Unbeaten in a bilateral ODI series since July 2015 until losing to England 2-1 just ahead of the Champions Trophy, the South Africans have the top-ranked batsman in AB de Villiers and the top-ranked bowlers in seamer Kagiso Rabada and leg-spinner Imran Tahir. On paper, they should be the favorites but they famously fail to deliver at the big ODI tournaments.
The Champions Trophy is the one the South Africans have won, claiming the inaugural title in 1998, it was called the ICC KnockOut Trophy at that time.
But since the tournament’s name changed to Champions Trophy, the South Africans have not been able to win the competition or rather any ICC event.
Opening batsmen Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla have forged a hugely effective partnership.
De Kock and Amla finished as the second and third highest run scorer in the recenlty conluded three-match ODI series against England.
Even if one of them is dismissed early, there's still De Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy and David Miller to come.
Tahir, who picked up 18 wickets (fifth highest) in the IPL, has been in red-hot form, but Rabada leads a pace attack that is always reliable.
Australia
After failing to win a game in its trophy defense in 2013, Australia intends to regain the championship by blasting all teams.
The batting line-up is impressive, boasting David Warner, captain Steve Smith, Aaron Finch, and Glenn Maxwell. They're bolstered by the prolific Chris Lynn, who recovered in the Indian Premier League from another shoulder injury.
Warner is coming off a terrific IPL, where he top-scored with 641 runs. Steve Smith also lead Rising Pune Supergiant to the final of the competition.
A powerful pace attack will be complete if Mitchell Starc can fire. Starc was picked with Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, and Pat Cummins. Injuries have limited their appearances together, and Starc is underdone after injuring his foot in the Test series against India three months ago.
His ability to seam the ball on English pitches is invaluable, and he couldn't bowl in the last warm-up match against Pakistan on Monday because of rain.
None of the members of the present squad was part of the 2006 and 2009 champions, but seven were involved in winning the 2015 World Cup, albeit at home.
However, in the past summer, Australia were swept aside in South Africa and New Zealand, the latter its first group opponent on Friday.
India
When India ended a two-week delay and revealed its squad, it banked on an experienced 50-over format players to defend the trophy rather than going on the form of aspirant cricketers from its glamorous Indian Premier League.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Dinesh Karthik all were part of the 2013 winning squad.
Yuvraj Singh will play his first Champions Trophy in almost 11 years. He last played in the tournament in 2006.
The left-hand batsman has been retained in India’s squad, after he made a terrific comeback in the three-match ODI series against England. He posted a career-best 150 in the second ODI at Cuttack.
However, he missed India’s two warm-up games due to fever. There is a question mark over his health ahead of the team’s first match.
Dhawan, the left-handed opening batsman, was player of the 2013 championship, also held in England, and in Buvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, India's fast bowling department looks as lethal as any other team's.
Virat Kohli has been struggling with form since the Test series against Australia. And he will certainly want to forget about the campaign with RCB in the IPL.
The Delhi lad will be leading India in a major ICC event for the first time, and is fortunate to have beside him the great Dhoni, the calm and calculated wicketkeeper-batstman.
India is a hot favorite to make it to the semi-final from Group B, which also includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.
New Zealand
If New Zealand gets its line-up right, it could win the Champions Trophy, 17 years after winning their only one.
New Zealand was a World Cup finalist in 2015, and a World Twenty20 semifinalist in 2016, and has developed a thick skin, like captain Kane Williamson.
The only question marks surround Martin Guptill's opening partner, and which all-rounders to leave out in the middle order.
Tom Latham lost his opening batsman-wicketkeeper position during the home series against South Africa in February after a run of six single-figure scores. He came right in the recent tri-series (Bangladesh, Ireland and New Zealand) in Ireland, scoring a century and two half-centuries.
Meanwhile, Luke Ronchi kept wicket in the tri-series, then opened with Guptill against India in the weekend in a warm-up and scored a 63-ball 66.
Presuming New Zealand accommodate Latham and Ronchi and fit-again fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan, then there's two middle-order berths and four all-rounders to pick, from Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, and Corey Anderson.
De Grandhomme, coming off the IPL, hasn't scored more than 32 or taken more than two wickets in a match since he returned to the ODI side in December. Neesham has batted well this year with 274 runs at an average of 34.25, but taken only four wickets.
Santner has been the opposite, spinning out 18 wickets in 11 matches, but scoring only 113 runs. Anderson hasn't scored more than 35 or taken two wickets in a match since the 2015 World Cup semifinals.
Guptill and Ross Taylor are the only survivors from the team which reached the 2009 final, and are among seven from the 2013 side.
England
Test cricket used to be king in England.
It still might be, in the eyes of the fans and traditionalists, but England coach Trevor Bayliss – in charge since June 2015 – has ensured the shorter formats now get as much attention as the five-day game.
"We turn our back on ODI cricket too much," Andrew Strauss, the director of England's national team, said in appointing Bayliss, "not because it isn't important, but because we aren't very good at it."
That's not the case anymore. England has a vibrant, dynamic side with genuine world-class players in Joe Root, Jos Buttler, and Ben Stokes, a deep and threatening batting line-up that has the luxury of Moeen Ali potentially at Number 7, and a balanced bowling attack.
Playing at home and in conditions that suit them, the English will be hard to beat in the Champions Trophy as they go in search of their first ICC 50-over trophy.
The turnaround since England was eliminated embarrassingly in the group stage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup has been stunning. The players have the freedom to be positive and aggressive, the mindset is attacking, and the hierarchy wants the team to be entertaining. There is no longer the fear of making mistakes.
And the results are there to be seen. They became the first side to beat South Africa in a bilateral ODI series since July 2015 after beating them 2-1 in the recently concluded three-match series.
The English just have to handle the pressure, which is easier said than done. This is the third time they have hosted the Champions Trophy – after 2004 and 2013 – and they have reached the final both times, only to lose to West Indies (2004) in fading light and then to India (2013) in a rain-affected match, which was reduced to 20 overs per side.
(With inputs from AP)