2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy
The 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy was the second edition of the One Day International cricket tournament. Later renamed as ICC Champions Trophy, it was held in Kenya. New Zealand were crowned champions and cashed the winner's cheque of US$250,000 with defeating India in the finals. It was their first win in a major ICC tournament. Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Marlon Samuels made their ODI debuts during the competition.
All the test playing nations participated in the tournament along with the leading Associates Bangladesh and hosts Kenya. As there were 11 teams taking part, three would miss out on a spot in the quarter-finals. Therefore, a playoff stage took place between six of the lowest ranked teams.
Squads
Pre-quarter-finals
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Knockout stage
The knockout stage of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy, following the pre-quarter-finals, was held from 7 to 15 October 2000. The top 5 teams ranked according to 1999 Cricket World Cup seedings qualify for the knockout stage automatically. The remaining three teams qualify from the pre-quarter-finals, which was held from 3 to 5 October, between 6 of the lowest ranked teams according to 1999 Cricket World Cup seedings.Of the eight teams entering the stage, the team which was ranked 1st according to 1999 Cricket World Cup seedings play the winner of pre-quarter-final 1 while the team which was ranked 2nd according to 1999 Cricket World Cup seedings play the winner of pre-quarter-final 2 and so on, in the format R1 v PQF 1, R2 v PQF 2, R3 v PQF 3 and R4 v R5.
Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe qualify for the knockout stage automatically, while India, Sri Lanka and England qualify from the pre-quarter-finals by beating Kenya, West Indies and Bangladesh respectively.
India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa qualified for the semi-finals by beating Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and England respectively. In the semi-finals, New Zealand beat Pakistan and India beat South Africa to qualify for the Finals.