Top seven teams of World Cup to play in Champions Trophy 2025 with hosts Pakistan
New Delhi (PTI): Finishing inside top seven on the ongoing World Cup table will have an added incentive to the teams as they will receive qualification for the eight-team ICC Champions Trophy 2025 alongside designated hosts Pakistan.
The ICC had revived the Champions Trophy in 2021 for the international calendar of 2024-2031 and the two editions of the tournament will be staged in 2025 and 2029.
The Champions Trophy is also set to follow the traditional format four teams divided into two groups with top two sides from each group entering the semifinals which is followed by the final.
But this qualification system, which was approved in 2021 during an ICC board meeting, might hamper the prospects of teams like England and Bangladesh in getting a Champions Trophy slot.
Looking at the scenario, England are currently placed 10th on the World Cup chart with just two points, and Bangladesh are on ninth with two points.
Both the teams have three more matches left in the tournament and need some massive turnaround to lift themselves among the top seven.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan had asserted the importance of finishing inside the top seven in the World Cup.
"I mean, not the semifinal hope. It is not a semifinal possibility. At least, we need to do a little better. Suppose, you have to be in the (top) ranking 8 if you want to play in the Champions Trophy (2025).
"So, there are still three matches left considering that in mind," Shakib said on Saturday after Bangladesh's defeat against the Netherlands.
The Dutch outfit and Afghanistan are currently eighth and seventh respectively in the table and can realistically dream of getting a berth in the Champions Trophy.
Another drawback of this system is that teams like West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe stand no chance to qualify for the Champions Trophy because they are not playing in this World Cup.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
