2006 ICC Champions Trophy
 |
|
| Administrator(s) | International Cricket Council |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | One Day International |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin |
| Host(s) |
 India
|
| Champions |
 Australia (1st title) |
| Participants | 10 |
| Player of the series |
 Chris Gayle
|
| Most runs |
Chris Gayle (474) |
| Most wickets |
Jerome Taylor (13) |
The 2006 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in India from 7 October to 5 November 2006. It was the fifth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy (previously known as the ICC Knock-out). The tournament venue was not confirmed until mid-2005 when the Indian government agreed that tournament revenues would be free from tax (the 2002 tournament had been due to be held in India, but was switched to Sri Lanka when an exemption from tax in India was not granted).Australia won the tournament, their first Champions Trophy victory. They were the only team to only get one loss in the tournament, as all other teams lost at least two matches. West Indies, their final opponents, beat Australia in the group stage, but were bowled out for 138 in the final and lost by eight wickets on the Duckworth–Lewis method. West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle was named Player of the Tournament.
English writer Tim de Lisle said the tournament "had been fun", because "it had been unpredictable." The unpredictability was in part shown by the fact that no Asian side qualified for the semi-final, for the first time in a major ICC tournament since the 1975 World Cup. De Lisle also claimed that "the pitches" had been the "tournament's secret", saying that they were "sporting and quixotic" and "quite untypical of both one-day cricket and the subcontinent." His viewed were echoed by panelists in a roundtable discussion organised by Cricinfo, "who hoped that the tournament would not be a one-off in a batsman-dominated game" according to news site rediff.com. The tournament recorded five of the 10 lowest team totals in the tournament's history, and totals of 80 (for West Indies v Sri Lanka) and 89 (for Pakistan v South Africa) were the lowest recorded in matches involving the top eight ranked One-day International sides of the world.
Ten teams competed in the tournament, and were seeded according to the ICC ODI Championship standings on 1 April 2006. Bangladesh became the last team to qualify, claiming tenth place ahead of Kenya on 23 March 2006. The first six teams on the ICC ODI table (Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, and England) qualified automatically; the next four teams (Sri Lanka, the defending champions West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) played a pre-tournament round-robin qualifying round from 7 to 14 October to determine which two will proceed to play in the tournament proper.
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