Who will hold the ICC Champions Trophy aloft?

It’s short. It’s sharp. And it features the eight teams who, at the moment, can rightfully be called the best practitioners of 50-over cricket on the planet. Get ready for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy!

It’s short. It’s sharp. And it features the eight teams who, at the moment, can rightfully be called the best practitioners of 50-over cricket on the planet. The ICC Champions Trophy has undergone many structural changes since the initial concept of a knockout tournament came into fruition in 1998.

The 2004 edition even featured a team from the United States, whose batsmen were given a working over by Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Michael Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie. From the ruthlessness of each match being a knockout affair, the tournament subsequently almost resembled a World Cup in numbers if not duration, but the Champions Trophy has found its niche as an elite shootout of sorts where each match may as well be a knockout. It has almost returned to what the inaugural version in 1998 was referred to as: the Mini World Cup.

In any tournament of this magnitude, the defending champion and the home team are generally reasonable front-running candidates, and this holds true for the 2017 edition too. India has unmatched pedigree on paper, though its parts aren’t entirely moving in sync with some players coming off a disappointing IPL campaign and others nursing pre-tournament injury. But then in 2013, when the tournament was also held in the United Kingdom, India didn’t look like a strong favourite at the start either. The team found its zing once the tournament started and never lost it, deservedly lifting the trophy after being the best side on show. The only change now is that Virat Kohli has taken over as captain, from MS Dhoni.

England was the losing finalist in 2013 but this time, the mantle of tournament favourite sits lightly on the home side. It may be only two short years since England failed to make the quarter finals of the ICC World Cup 2015, but it’s been enough for a rebirth. Given home advantage and the conditions likely on offer, there isn’t any other side that can rival England’s power and depth in batting, and incisiveness and variety in bowling.

But though England looks the favourite, it takes only one day to come unstuck. And if you have a pace battery that reads Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson, that day can come without warning. It is unlikely that the Australian XI will include all four of these quicks that other teams would give right arms for. But the mere thought is delicious enough, and even three of them in one team would be no picnic for batsmen. The X-factor of the bowlers overshadows a batting line-up formidable in its own right, led by Steve Smith and David Warner.

And we have gotten this far without even touching on the side currently at the top of the ODI rankings. South Africa is perhaps the only team that can match England for balance. Even though its batting line-up doesn’t possess the same hard-hitting aura, it has AB de Villiers, the man who can bend gravity to his will and it has the hunger that can only come from the ghosts of missed opportunities in the past.

It’s fallen neatly enough that two of these sides, Australia and England, are in Group A and two others, India and South Africa, in Group B. But while a natural coalescing of ‘these will be the four semi-finalists’ will happen in pubs, the game’s uncertainties in all their glory might well decide otherwise. And in truth, who can say that New Zealand’s array of exciting players will not beat out all competition? Or that Bangladesh’s continuing journey of improvement will not find fulfilment here? That Sri Lanka will not choose this tournament to show that the post Sangakkara-Mahela resurgence is complete? And that’s without taking into account the mercurial, brilliant Pakistan, capable of not just beating any team on its day, but every team in a fortnight.

But while the overall goal will remain the trophy, the contests along the way will give this tournament its place in memory vaults. England v Bangladesh and Australia v New Zealand to start – and perhaps victory to avenge defeat in the 2015 World Cup on minds. The Ashes rivals clashing and perhaps the most anticipated match among all, India v Pakistan.

It may be a mini World Cup, but there will be nothing miniature about these blockbuster clashes. And if the cricket lives up to the build-up – as it generally tends to do when so many quality teams take on each other – there will be a feast packed into a snack box.