The tour will visit 19 cities across the eight competing nations - hosts England, Bangladesh, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The launch marked 100 days to go until the first ball is bowled at the tournament, due to run from June 1 to 18.

India will be the first stop on the tour between March 2 and 15, where it will visit Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

It will then travel to Dhaka in Bangladesh from March 18 to 21 before it heads to Colombo in Sri Lanka from March 22 to 25.

Karachi in Pakistan welcomes the trophy on March 28, where it will stay until March 30.

Fans of the sport will be able to see the trophy in the South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from April 4 to 12 and it then jets further south to Auckland in New Zealand from April 15 to 18.

Melbourne and Sydney is the penultimate destination on the tour on April 19 to 27 before it travels to host nation England from May 2 until the tournament gets underway.

Matches at the competition are scheduled to be held at The Oval in London, Sophia Gardens in Cardiff and Edgbaston in Birmingham.

"The global trophy tour is the start of what will be a fantastic summer of cricket celebration in the UK with two major back-to-back events - the ICC Champions Trophy followed by the ICC Women’s World Cup," ICC chief executive David Richardson said.

“Our thanks to Nissan for bringing us this global trophy tour, providing the fans from the competing nations with a special experience in the build up to the events. 

"We are confident that the ICC Champions Trophy will be as competitive and thrilling as preceding editions, bringing together some of the finest 50-over cricketers in a short and sharp event in which every match counts.”

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who scored 8,064 runs in 398 one-day internationals for his country, as well as taking 395 wickets, was in attendance at the launch event in Dubai.

"The ICC Champions Trophy is an event which gives me and millions of Pakistan cricket supporters mixed feelings," he said. 

"It is the only ICC major tournament Pakistan has never won, but at the same time it is the only ICC event in which Pakistan has beaten India. 

"That said, I am sure things will soon change as nothing is permanent in life and sport.