The buzz is building as eight teams are ready to fight it out for a glossy trophy and a 2.24-million-dollar prize money in the ninth edition of the tournament.
The event is also called the “Mini World Cup” as it gives the top eight teams a chance to show their mettle. It is more competitive than the World Cup since just one loss can oust a team from the event.
After the 1996 World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to introduce a knock-out tournament on a quadrennial basis with the top eight teams in competition.
The aim was to generate funds for the development and promotion of Associate countries. The first edition was held as an ICC Knock-Out tournament in 1998 in Bangladesh.
South Africa won the event by beating the West Indies in the final. This is the only global event South Africa has won so far.
Trophy: The champions are awarded a majestic silver-gilt Cup adorned with the ICC logo and cricket motifs. The trophy has been won twice by Australia (2006 and 2009), India (2002 joint /with Sri Lanka and 2013), South Africa (1998), the West Indies (2004) and Pakistan (2017).
White Jackets: With the trophy, the winners also get to adorn the white jackets, a symbol of honour for champions.
The ICC says jackets embody the consistent pursuit of tactical brilliance and a legacy to inspire generations. When you win the White Jacket, it means your journey is successful in putting all your efforts online.
Golden Ball: The Golden Ball is given to the best bowler of the tournament. Pakistan’s Hasan Ali collected the Golden Ball after taking 13 wickets in the tournament in 2017.
Golden Bat: The golden bat is given to the batsman with the most runs in the Champions trophy. India’s Shikhar Dhawan won the Golden Bat in 2017.
Teams and their chances
India
India is playing different levels of cricket in both white-ball formats. When India thrashed England 3-0 just a week before the Champions Trophy it looked like there existed a big gulf between the standards of India and other teams.
The fact that they were the runners-up in the ODI World Cup and the winners of the Twenty20 World Cup proves their quality.
As you analyse player-to-player, India is one of the most balanced teams. However, they will miss the ever-inspiring and destructive traits of spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who is missing the event with a back problem.
Mohammad Sahmi will be rusty after coming back from injury while Arshadeep Singh and Harshit Rana will have to prove that they can go beyond four overs of excellent bowling.
India’s two strong points are their batting with Rohit Sharma back in form. India would love to see Virat Kohli overcome his run drought.
In Shubman Gill they have one of the best young batters in the world. Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishab Punt are capable middle-order batters.
The spin bench is copious of talent. Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakarvarthy are two wicket-taking spinners while Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar can not only spin the ball but shamsh it with bats as well.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan can be termed as the ‘dark horse” of the 2025 Champions Trophy. They have shown the world what power they have in white-ball cricket with a semi-final finish in the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup.
In the ODI World Cup in India, Afghanistan beat defending champions England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — three world champions — and had Glenn Maxwell not hit a match-turning double hundred the war-torn country would have been in the semi-final.
They have explosive batters, wily spinners and good pacers. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran are two solid openers who can set the platform for bigger totals.
Sediqullah Atal is an explosive left-hander while Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib and Azamtullah Orakzai stabilise the batting.
Afghanistan’s strong point is their spinners and in Pakistan and UAE conditions they can prove match winners.
Rashid Khan leads the spin attack admirably well as he is tough to handle. Nabi, Noor Ahmed and Nangeyalia Kharote completed the spin attack which could have been more formidable had the fast-rising AM Ghazanfar or Mujeeb Ur Rahman were not unfit.
In Fazalhaq Farqooi, Fareed Malik and Naveed Zadran are capable pace bowlers.
Pakistan
Pakistan is as dangerous as they are unpredictable. Since Mohammad Rizwan took over as captain, Pakistan have risen to number two in the ODI rankings, having beaten Australia 2-1 — their first ODI series win Down Under in 22 years — Zimbabwe 2-1 and South Africa 3-0. They inflicted Proteas their first-ever ODI white-wash at home.
But since these successes Pakistan were jolted with Saim Ayub ruled out of the Champions Trophy with an ankle injury in the South Africa Test series.
Surprisingly, Pakistan did not select a regular opener Imam-ul-Haq and have instead taken a risky route of using Babar Azam at the top with Fakhar Zaman. The plot has not worked in the tri-series where Pakistan lost the final.
Pakistan have also decided to rely on their pace attack of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain with Abrar Ahmed as the lone frontline spinner. Using Salman and Khushdil Shah as the fifth bowling option is also a risk proposition.
A lot will depend on Rizwan to hold the innings which he and Salman did in the tri-series. Pakistan chased a tough 353-run target against South Africa — the highest ever they have done in ODI cricket with hundreds from Rizwan and Salman.
The selection of allrounders Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf on the basis of good showing in the not-so-highly rated Bangladesh League left big question marks.
Usman Khan has also found a place as a reserve wicketkeeper, again questionable as the hard-hitting batter has yet to play in ODI cricket.
Can Pakistan pacers with them the Trophy? They can as they are fresh and have not played a lot of cricket, so they should.
Australia
One of the most successful teams with six ODI World Cups and two Champions Trophy titles, Australia were hit hard just a month before the start of the event. Allrounder Mitchell Marsh was ruled out with a back injury.
Then came the double blow with skipper Pat Cummins out with an ankle injury and Josh Hazlewood ruled out with a hip problem. As it was not enough another quality white-ball allrounder Marcus Stoinis suddenly announced retirement from ODI cricket.
The final blow was hit when spearhead Mitchell Starc pulled out of the Trophy over personal reasons. These five absentees leave Australia’s attack fireless.
David Warner’s retirement also means Travis Head will have a new partner at the top. Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Maxwell handle the batting.
With the main attack out with injury, Australian batters will be under pressure to give a good total to their new-look attack of Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie and Spencer Johnson. Adam Zampa will lead the spin attack with Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Short in the company.
England
England’s white-ball has nosedived ahead of the 2023 World Cup when they miserably failed to defend the title. After losing to New Zealand, Afghanistan, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India they barely qualified for the Champions Trophy as the seventh team.
They also failed to defend their title in the Twenty20 World Cup, going down in the semi-finals.
They began the new year with the hope that incoming head coach Brendon McCullum would change white-ball fortunes, just like he did in the red-ball format.
But they lost 4-1 in the T20I series and 3-0 in the ODIs — leaving a big question mark on their chances in the Champions Trophy.
They lack a quality allrounder like Ben Stokes who has not been part of the white-ball squads with lack of fitness. Fast-rising Jacob Bethell’s injury also hurt them just a week before the event.
Still, England have quality players with Jos Buttler in the lead. Phil Salt and Ben Duckett can give them head starts.
Joe Root provides the much-needed stability in the middle order while Tom Banton, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone speed up the run rate when needed. Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton and Jamie Smith can be effective in the slogovers.
The spin bowling depends on the wily Adil Rashid with the pace attack is in the good hands of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood and Gus Atkinson who would struggle on the flat pitches.
New Zealand
New Zealand’s wait for an ICC Trophy is as long as that of South Africa. They won the second edition of the Champions Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya some 25 years ago.
They finished runners-up in successive World Cups in 2015 and 2019 and were the losing semi-finalists of the last Trophy event. A generation of players including Tim Southee and Trent Boult finished their careers without ICC silverware.
They have played some good cricket in the lead-up to the Trophy, winning the tri-series in Pakistan and, more importantly, harmonised with the conditions in the process.
With experienced players like Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham their batting core is solid. They have some strong power hitters in Glenn Phillips, skipper Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell.
Santner, Bracewell and Phillips give spin attack the variety and potency. The trio took 11 wickets in three matches and will be handy in Group A matches against Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
The pace attack is new but not devoid of speed. New Zealand will hope Lockie Ferguson — the fastest of the lot — recovers fully from a hamstring injury and boosts the pace attack which also has Nathan Smith, fast-rising Will O’Rourke and experienced Matt Henry.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh will seek a huge lift in their ODI fortunes if they have to win the Trophy. They finished losing semi-finalists in the last event held in the UK in 2017 but their recent showings are unimpressive.
Bangladesh will be without their mercurial allrounder Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib was not selected for the Trophy after his bowling action was reported as illegal and a subsequent test also showed it did not improve. The retirement of dashing opener Tamim Iqbal has also left Bangladesh’s top-order weak.
But Bangladesh still has experience in the form of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah who can bolster the innings. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar are two established batters who can give the team a solid start.
Tanzid Hasan is in his early career but has shown promise to fill Tamim’s shoes as an opener but that will take time. Tohid Hridoy and Jaker Ali are good power hitters.
Bangladesh’s pace attack is promising. The emergence of Nahid Rana has been noticeable as he bowls 140KPH plus and gets wickets. Mustafiz ur Rahman and Tasking Ahmed are experienced pacers while Tanzim Hossain is handy.
Bangladesh’s spin department is handled by allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz whose batting has flourished in the recent past in all three formats. Rishad Hossain and Nasum Ahmed have quality as they can pose problems on slow pitches.
