India to begin Champions Trophy defence against Pakistan

Sport360 staff 14:14 01/06/2016
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  • India and Pakistan are all set to resume their ODI rivalry.

    With exactly a year to go until the tournament gets underway, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its 2017 Champions Trophy schedule at The Oval on Wednesday.

    Fifteen matches between the top-eight ODI teams will be played over a period of 18 days across three venues in England and Wales: The Oval (South London), Edgbaston (Birmingham) and Cardiff Wales Stadium (Cardiff). Defending champions India are seeded second in the competition, while World Champions Australia are seeded first.

    The eight teams have been divided into two pools of four each, with Australia, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh constituting Group A and India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan making up Group B.

    This particular grouping ensures that cricket fans from the subcontinent, especially the South Asian diaspora living in the UK get to witness yet another India-Pakistan contest at an ICC event. The rivalry is set to resume at Edgbaston on 4 June, a game which marks the start of India’s title defence.

    Other standout games in the competition include an encore of the 2015 World Cup final – a Trans-Tasman contest on 2 June at Edgbaston, and the famous Ashes rivalry a week later at the same ground.

    The majority of the games taking place will be day matches, expected to start 10:30 AM local time. Day/night offerings featuring Australia, Bangladesh, South Africa and Pakistan will be held at two different venues and are scheduled to kick-off at 1:30 PM local time.

    Announcing the schedule, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 is not just an ODI competition, it carries a great deal of value since it is being played just three months before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 qualification cut-off date. As such, every point earned here could be crucial.”

    The ticket ballot for the tournament will open on 1 September and close at the end of the month on 30 September. All remaining tickets will then go on general sale in October.

    Event Schedule:

    Thurs, 1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (d)
    Fri, 2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (d)
    Sat, 3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (d)
    Sun, 4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (d)
    Mon, 5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (d/n)
    Tues, 6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (d)
    Wed, 7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (d/n)
    Thurs, 8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (d)
    Fri, 9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (d)
    Sat, 10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (d)
    Sun, 11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (d)
    Mon, 12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (d)
    Wed, 14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (d)
    Thurs, 15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (d)
    Sun, 18 June – Final, The Oval (d)
    Mon, 19 June – Reserve day (d)

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