The reverse countdown to Champions Trophy 2025 has started. Eight teams will participate in the tournament, which will happen in Pakistan and one more country. ICC has confirmed that Pakistan will host a majority of the matches, but India’s matches will happen at a neutral venue.
The neutral venue is yet to be announced, but UAE is likely to be the host. This marks the return of the Champions Trophy for the first time since 2017. Pakistan will enter the competition as the defending champions. Meanwhile, Afghanistan will make their debut.
In this article now, we will look at the two teams which have won the ICC Knockouts Cup in the past, but they have not qualified for Champions Trophy 2025.
1. Sri Lanka will not play in Champions Trophy 2025
In a shocking development, Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the 2025 CT tournament. This will be the first time the Sri Lankan team will not participate in this competition. Back in the year 2000, Sri Lanka and India were the joint winners of the Knockouts Cup tournament.
In 2023, Sri Lanka had to play the Qualifiers tournament to earn an entry into the ODI World Cup despite being the former champions. It shows that the standard of Sri Lankan ODI team is no longer the same as it was.
2. West Indies
West Indies are former champions of the Knockouts Cup, having won the tournament in 2004 on England’s soil. However, just like the 2023 ODI World Cup, the Caribbean team has missed the bus for the 2025 CT as well. It will not be the same tournament without West Indies, but even in 2017, the Caribbean side had failed to qualify.
