MNA Sports Desk: The 8th edition of the eight-team ICC Champions Trophy will kick off at Kennington Oval in London on Thursday.
Bangladesh will start their Group A campaign taking on the host England in the tournament opener, starting at 3:30pm (Bangladesh time). In the remaining group matches, Tigers will face Australia and New Zealand on June 5 and 9 respectively.
Dubbed as the mini-World Cup, eight international teams – Pakistan, Australia, England, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand will battle for the tournament which is held after every two years.
The first two editions of the ICC Champions Trophy have been played in knockout format. Since then, the competition has been played in round-robin and elimination format.
India and Australia have won the tournament two times whereas West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa have also emerged champions once as well.
The first and second semi- final of ICC Champions Trophy will be played at Cardiff and Birmingham on 14th and 15th June respectively. The final will take place on June 18th at The Oval.
Group A:
Australia: Steve Smith (Captain), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper) and Adam Zampa.
Bangladesh: Masrafe Mortaza (Captain), Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mehedi Hasan Miraj, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sanjamul Islam, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed.
England: Eoin Morgan (Captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (Captain), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee and Ross Taylor.
Group B:
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmad (Captain and wicketkeeper), Ahmad Shahzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fahim Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz.
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Umesh Yadav.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (Captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Faf du Plessis, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir.
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (Captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella (wicketkeeper), Asela Gunaratne, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Seekkuge Prasanna, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Lakshan Sandakan and Upul Tharanga.