The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and is considered the second most significant after the World Cup. Originated in 1998 in Bangladesh as ‘ICC KnockOut Trophy’, the tournament is organised every four years, though it was organized every two or three years earlier.
The prestigious event was not held in 2021 amidst the Covid-19 outbreak restrictions. Players from all teams that have a permanent ODI status have scored centuries so far. As a moment of pride, India tops the list with 12 centuries, followed by South Africa and Sri Lanka, with seven centuries each.
Let us look at the number of centuries in each season of the Champions Trophy and see which season can be hailed as the best so far.
- 1998 – With the pioneering season being organised in Dhaka, it saw four centuries being scored by four distinguished batsmen. The list of batsmen who accomplished this feat were Alistair Campbell, Sachon Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Philo Wallace.
- 2000 – The following season witnessed four different players scoring centuries in the tournament hosted by ICC in Nairobi, Kenya. The list of century-makers included Avishka Gunawardene, Sourav Ganguly, Saeed Anwar and Chris Cairns.
- 2002 – This edition of the ICC Champions Trophy had numerous centuries being scored by trail blazing batsmen. Nine different and outstanding batters had displayed their class and smashed centuries one after the other. These players were Sanath Jayasuriya, Mohammed Kaif, Andy Flower, Marvan Atapattu, Brian Lara, Marcus Trescothick, Herschelle Gibbs, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly.
- 2004 – The next season was the 2004 edition, organized by the ICC in London. Held during the September period, a wide range of batsmen from different countries scored tons. The names of run-getters who left an indelible mark with their performances were Nathan Astle, Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick and Herschelle Gibbs.
- 2006 – The next season to follow through soon enough was in the year 2006. During this edition of the Champions Trophy, Upul Tharanga scored two centuries, Chris Gayle created a Gayle-storm with three, Shahriar Nafees and Dwayne Bravo with one century each to their credit. This season was hosted by the BCCI in conjunction with ICC in India and unfortunately had no Indians on this century-scoring list.
- 2009 – Since this edition, the Champions Trophy moved to being a once in three years event. T. Dilshan, Shoaib Malik, Graeme Smith, Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting were the leading run-getters who made a name for themselves in the books of history on the pristine lands of Centurion in South Africa.
- 2013 – One of the lowest century-scoring editions of the Champions Trophy, in 2013 only two batsmen crossed the hundred-mark figure. From this year onwards the ICC decided to make Champions Trophy a world cricket tournament that would take place once in every four years, earning the tag of a ‘mini world-cup’. These two were ODI cricket veterans Shikhar Dhawan with his two centuries and Kumar Sangakkara with one.
- 2017 – Beating all the previous seasons up until the 2017 edition, this one saw a record-breaking achievement in itself of ten feisty and hugely talented batsmen showcasing their craft on the grounds of United Kingdom. The list included Tamim Iqbal, Shikhar Dhawan, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Hashim Amla, Shakib Al Hassan, Mahmudullah, Ben Stokes, Fakhar Zaman and Rohit Sharma.
- 2025 – The current season being hosted by Pakistan’s Cricket Board along with ICC has surpassed all the previous years as the number of centuries scored by different batsmen is the highest already. With the total number of centuries adding up to eleven scored by eleven different batsmen who have created a name for themselves in the ongoing edition are Will Young, Tom Latham, Towhid Hridoy, Shubman Gill, Ryan Rickelton, Ben Duckett, Josh Inglis, Virat Kohli, Rachin Ravindra, Ibrahim Zadran and Joe Root.
The 2025 edition has observed eleven centuries so far, the highest for a single tournament, while the fewest centuries were scored in the 2013 edition, with just three all throughout.
