2006 ICC Champions Trophy
The 2006 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in India from 7 October to 5 November 2006. It was the fifth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy (previously known as the ICC Knock-out). The tournament venue was not confirmed until mid-2005 when the Indian government agreed that tournament revenues would be free from tax (the 2002 tournament had been due to be held in India, but was switched to Sri Lanka when an exemption from tax in India was not granted). Australia won the tournament, their first Champions Trophy victory . They were the only team to get one loss in the tournament, as all other teams lost at least two matches. West Indies, their final opponents, beat Australia in the group stage but were bowled out for 138 in the final and lost by eight wickets on the Duckworth–Lewis method. West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle was named Player of the Tournament. English writer Tim de Lisle said the tournament "had been fun" because "it had been unpredictable." The unpredictability was in part shown by the fact that no Asian side qualified for the semi-final, for the first  time in a major ICC tournament since the 1975 World Cup. De Lisle also claimed that "the pitches" had been the "tournament's secret," saying that they were "sporting and quixotic" and "quite untypical of both one-day cricket and the subcontinent." His viewed were echoed by panelists in a roundtable discussion organized by Cricinfo, "who hoped that the tournament would not be a one-off in a batsman-dominated game," according to news site rediff.com. The tournament recorded five of the 10 lowest team totals in the tournament's history, and totals of 80 (for West Indies v Sri  Lanka) and 89 (for Pakistan v South Africa) were the lowest recorded in matches involving the top eight ranked One-day International sides of the world. Qualifying. The Ten full member teams competed in the tournament and were seeded according to the ICC ODI Championship standings on 1 April 2006. Bangladesh became the last team to qualify, claiming tenth place ahead of Kenya on 23 March 2006. The first six teams on the ICC ODI table (Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, and England) qualified automatically; the next four teams (Sri Lanka, the defending champions West Indies, Zimbabwe and  Bangladesh) played a pre-tournament round-robin qualifying round from 7 to 14 October to determine which two will proceed to play in the tournament proper. Tournament structure. Two teams from the qualifying round, plus the other six teams, played in a group stage, split into two groups of four in a round-robin competition, played from 15 to 29 October. Matches in the preliminary round and the group round were played in the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, and the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The matches  in Mumbai were the first ODIs at Brabourne Stadium for 11 years. The top two teams from each group qualified for the semi-finals played in Mohali on 1 November and in Jaipur on 2 November. The final was played in Mumbai on 5 November. Participating teams. The 10 Test-playing nations had taken part. Off the field issues. The BCCI, Indian cricket's governing body, made efforts to ensure that this is the last ICC Champions Trophy. They stated that it was a "financial burden" for host nations and that the ICC should host only one international tournament, the  World Cup. However, in April, BCCI president Sharad Pawar said that he would "respect the decision" if the ICC unanimously agreed to keep the Champions Trophy on the calendar. After the bombings in Mumbai in July 2006, there were concerns raised about the security of players, but no team decided to withdraw on these grounds. Herschelle Gibbs returned to India for the first time in six years; he had refused to tour the country following the match-fixing scandal on the tour of India in 2000, over fears he might be arrested. He eventually agreed to a questioning session with  the Delhi police, incriminating several more people in the scandal. Pakistan's team composition frequently changed; the original captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was suspended following his decision to forfeit the fourth Test of Pakistan's match against England over an umpiring decision. Younis Khan was instated as captain, withdrew himself, then was appointed for the job again. On 16 October, the day before their first match, Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar were sent home following a positive A sample of a drugs test. Award ceremony controversy. During the Award ceremony after the finals, Ricky Ponting tapped the  shoulders of BCCI President Sharad Pawar and gestured him to hand over the trophy. Soon after the trophy was handed over, Damien Martyn nudged Sharad Pawar off the stage, eager to relish the moment and to pose for the waiting photographers. Former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar who was also present on the stage, later disclosed that one of the Australian team members referred to Pawar as "Hiya Buddy." Although Pawar tried to play down the incident by stating that "it wasn't intentional," some cricketers, including the usually diplomatic Sachin Tendulkar and Nikhil Chopra reacted strongly to this. In Mumbai , a section of NCP workers took to the streets demanding an apology from the Australian cricket team. Chaggan Bhujbal, a NCP leader, said, "This is an insult to a senior leader. We will make a formal complaint to the Australian embassy." The BCCI, however, decided not to complain to Cricket Australia officially. However, the issue soon got resolved when Ricky Ponting tended his apology to Pawar. Umpires and match referees. Three match referees and eight umpires were named for the tournament. Of the ten umpires on the ICC elite panel, neither Darrell Hair, who was not nominated due to security  concerns, nor Billy Doctrove was employed for the tournament. Those were two umpires calling Pakistan for ball tampering in August. An ICC spokesman said, "this didn't mean Billy Doctrove is a bad umpire," and that there was "nothing sinister" about the decision. Match referees Umpires Qualifying round. West Indies and Sri Lanka had qualified with a game to spare, and their match only determined position on the ICC ODI Championship table as well as group opposition in the main stage. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Group Stage. Group A. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Group B. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Tournament statistics. Statistics include  performances in preliminary round matches. Records. Records broken during the tournament: