The 1998 Champions Trophy was the first edition of the Champions trophy. The Champions Trophy was called ICC Knockout Tournament until 2000. It was renamed Champions Trophy after that.

The tournament was held from 24th October to 1st November 1998 and it was the first tournament other than the world cup which involved all the Test-playing nations.

It was called the Knockout tournament as all the matches were knockout matches where the losing team of every match would be eliminated from the tournament.

9 Teams Competed In The Tournament

It was held in Bangladesh as the main intention of launching the tournament was for the promotion of the game in non-Test-playing nations like Bangladesh, which did not attain the status of the Test-playing nation at that time and Kenya.

Only the 9 Test playing nations participated in the tournament. Though Bangladesh hosted the tournament, it was not eligible to play in it.

As there were 9 teams and they were required to play a qualifying knockout match in order to enter the main event.

New Zealand and Zimbabwe were chosen to play the qualifier round. And New Zealand beat Zimbabwe in the qualifying round to enter into the main event.

The eight teams which were part of the main event were pitted against each other in 4 quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal Stage

The first quarterfinal was played on 25th October between South Africa and England which was won by South Africa. South Africa chased England’s score of 281 runs in 46.4 overs.

The second quarterfinal was played on 26th October between New Zealand and Sri Lanka where Sri Lanka won the match by reaching the target of 188 set by the Black Caps in 41.3 overs.

The third match of quarterfinals was held on October 28th where India met Australia. India which batted first and made 307 runs defeated Australia by 44 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar brilliant all-round performance with both the bat where he scored 141 runs and picked up 4 wickets was the main highlight of the match

The last quarterfinal was a match between West Indies and Pakistan played on 29th October.  West Indies won the match by 30 runs.

At the end of quarters, the four teams which progressed to semifinals were India, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and South Africa

Semifinals

In the first semis, which was disrupted by rain dominant South Africa beat Sri Lanka and entered the finals. South Africa made 240 runs in a revised number of overs which were reduced to 39. Due to further rain, the target of Sri Lanka was changed to 224 runs in 32 overs. However, Sri Lanka was all out in 23.4 overs after scoring a total of 132 runs.

The second semis was a face-off between the West Indies and India on 31st October. India which elected to bat after winning the toss made 242 runs in fifty overs. Ganguly’s 82 run was the highest individual score in the Indian team. West Indies achieved the target in 47 overs. The highest scored in the team was by Shivnarine Chanderpaul who made 74 runs.

Finals

The two finalists South Africa and West Indies clashed on 1st November. South Africa won the toss and asked West Indies to bat.

The West Indies team put a total of 245 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in 49.3 overs. South African all-rounder Kallis took 5 wickets. South Africa chased the target in 47 overs and won the inaugural Champions Trophy. SA captain Hansie Cronje scored 61 runs the highest score in the team.

Jacques Kallis was adjudged the Man of The Match in the finals. He was also awarded Man of The Series award.

The most noteworthy thing about South Africa’s victory is that the team was the most powerful side in Cronje’s captaincy but failed to win any ICC events except this one.