Despite a late injury setback with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out due to a back issue, India arrive at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with a star-studded line-up.
Fielding a majority of the names that featured at the 2023 World Cup, where they finished runners-up, the experienced duo of captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli power a well-rounded batting line-up.
Meanwhile, fresh names have been introduced in the bowling line-up with Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy putting themselves in the mix.
A noticeable feature of the squad is the presence of multiple all-rounders such as Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, who provide depth with bat and ball.
Having played a major role in India’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2024, Pandya, one of the architects of India’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2024, will be critical to India’s Champions Trophy ambitions.
In the absence of Bumrah, the 31-year-old premiere seam-bowling all-rounder is likely to shoulder added responsibility with the ball in hand. With the bat, Pandya holds the key as a proven power-hitter, who can accumulate runs quickly in the lower order.
Australia’s challenge to overcome key injuries
Two-time winners of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy, Australia will look to add another title to their trophy cabinet. However, even before the tournament began, the side from Down Under had been impacted by injuries to key players, with regular skipper Pat Cummins, and pacers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood along with all-rounder Mitch Marsh all ruled out of the Champions Trophy. This, along with the surprise retirement of Marcus Stoinis, has forced Australia to call-up several backup players.
Despite all this, the Aussies still have a number of experienced campaigners to call upon in the tournament. Veteran star Steve Smith, fresh off a Test series win in Sri Lanka, will lead them in the Champions Trophy. Along with Smith, explosive all-rounders Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell, who played a crucial role in Australia’s Cricket World Cup 2023 triumph, will also be key to their chances. Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey, and Adam Zampa are other experienced names in the outfit.
One of the key players that the Aussies will largely bank on is the hard-hitting Travis Head, who has been instrumental to Australia’s success across formats in recent years. He was the star performer in Australia’s 2023 World Cup campaign, starring in the semi-final and final wins against South Africa and India respectively, and will be expected to play a similar role in Pakistan and the UAE.
Proteas push for glory
The South Africans were the champions of the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy in 1998, but since then the Proteas are yet to claim a senior ICC silverware. But there is absolutely no doubt that the Proteas have what it takes to go all the way in Pakistan, entering the tournament placed fifth in the ICC’s ODI Team Rankings.
Temba Bavuma will lead the side’s campaign, which kicks off against the all-round talent of Afghanistan in Karachi. Along with the Afghanis, South Africa is grouped up with Australia and England – there is no easy path to the Champions Trophy semi-final stage for the African side. But Bavuma’s side has the requisite quality with the bat and the ball to make a deep impact in the tournament.
The side has quality pace resources in the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder, and also impactful spinners like Tabraiz Shamsi, and Keshav Maharaj. All eyes will be on the big-hitting Heinrich Klaasen, who is coming off a stupendous finish to 2024.
England hunt for a maiden Champions Trophy crown
Fresh from a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of India, Jos Buttler’s side will walk into the tournament with an intent to right their Champions Trophy record, and to finally break through for a triumph in this tournament, having come agonisingly close under the captaincy of Michael Vaughan (runners-up, 2004) and Alastair Cook (runners-up, 2013).
After an uninspiring run in their 2023 World Cup, where they finished seventh, England haven’t had the best of times in ODI cricket, having lost all of their four series in the format since. Despite that the side can’t be discounted, given availability challenges.
With new white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum at the helm, having changed the flavour of English Test cricket after taking over in 2022, a title charge is all-too possible. Buttler, along with Joe Root and the talented Harry Brook, will form the crux of England batting, with fiery Ben Duckett and Phil Salt available for support.
England aren’t short of pace options in Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood and Saqib Mahmood, but focus will be on the guile of Adil Rashid, whose leg-spinners can be more than useful in Pakistan and UAE. Given the injury blow to all-rounder Jacob Bethell, only Liam Livingstone and Joe Root remain as slow bowling support acts for Rashid, meaning that the leg-spinner will have to do the bulk of the work in the spin department.
Afghanistan eye memorable CT debut
Banking on big wins against England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the 2023 World Cup, Afghanistan ensured their first-ever qualification for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Powered by an array of superstars in all departments of the game, and arriving into the competition off the back of their first-ever semi-final finish at an ICC tournament in last year’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Afghanistan are not to be taken lightly.
Adjudged the ICC ODI Player of the Year for 2024, Azmatullah Omarzai has been a crucial pillar for Afghanistan’s recent success in the format. At the last World Cup, the all-rounder had finished with 353 runs to go with nine wickets to inspire a streak of big results. In the absence of Naveen ul-Haq, Omarzai will also have added responsibility in Afghanistan’s pace unit.
Perennial underdogs Bangladesh aim for glory
Bangladesh have been the perennial underdogs in international cricket, but somehow seem to always compete hard at the upper echelons of the sport. The team has been on a patchy record of late. In their recent tour of the West Indies, they were whitewashed in the three ODI contests, but came back to win the T20I series 3-0.
However, despite this recent volatile form, Nazmul Hossain Shanto will be leading the side with proven pedigree in the ICC Champions Trophy with a run to the semi-finals in the previous edition, in 2017. Nazmul’s campaign will be assisted by senior players like Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim and the Bangladesh skipper is confident his team can perform well. All eyes will be on the versatile all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who has come into his own for Bangladesh.
“We are going to the Champions Trophy to become champions. All eight teams deserve to be champions in this tournament. They are all quality teams. I believe our team has the ability. No one will feel extra pressure,” Shanto boldly claimed ahead of their opening fixture against India on February 20.
Injury forces last minute change in New Zealand squad
New Zealand have been forced to make a change to their Champions Trophy squad after pacer Ben Sears was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. A like-for-like replacement has been made, with Jacob Duffy joining the squad.
Duffy, having made just 10 appearances for the Black Caps in the 50-over format since his debut in July 2022, will replace Sears as he misses out due to an injury. The 30-year-old has picked up 18 scalps so far in his ODI career at an average of 25.94 and economy of 6.25. He last played for the Black Caps in early January, taking two wickets while conceding 30 runs in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Hamilton.
Hosts Pakistan out to defend Champions Trophy title
Pakistan is looking to overcome considerable adversity. Not only must they deal with the added stress of being tournament hosts, but Pakistan is weathering recent coaching instability, with Aqib Javed in charge in an interim capacity until after the Champions Trophy.
The Pakistan side will be keen to do an encore of their 2017 campaign, and the onus will again be on opener Fakhar Zaman to set the ball rolling alongside the likes of Mohammed Rizwan and Babar Azam.
Babar is the ICC’s top-ranked ODI batter (795 rating points), sitting firmly above Indian duo Shubman Gill (2nd) and Rohit Sharma (3rd). The 30-year-old scored back-to-back fifties in South Africa to finish off 2024 and he’ll need to keep that form rolling if Pakistan are to make a dent in their home tournament. This is the team’s first 50-over ICC tournament since Babar stepped down from the captaincy at the conclusion of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023. He’ll be locked in from the first ball to make sure he leads with his actions at the crease.
Can Rizwan and his side overcome the intense scrutiny that will follow their campaign? Only time will tell.