Champions Trophy Potential Semifinalists Leaked By Ex-England Batter

The reverse countdown for the Champions Trophy 2025 begins on February 19 between Pakistan and New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi. The two other grounds, Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Rawalpindi Stadium will also host the competition.

India will play all of their games of the eight-team event at the Dubai International Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Their opening encounter will be against Bangladesh before they take on arch-rivals Pakistan. The Blue Brigade’s last league encounter will be against New Zealand.

Kevin Pietersen names India and Pakistan as favorites for Champions Trophy

During a recent interview with Star Sports, the former England batter, Kevin Pietersen, was confident to name India and Pakistan as his two favorites to earn the title.

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Both these sides carry a rich history in the 50-over format with formidable line-ups and will go through key players in the race for the title. It was a surprising decision from Pietersen to rule out Australia as the potential semifinalist of the Champions Trophy. But in the absence of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc’s withdrawal, it won’t be a shocking decision anymore.

“I mean, this is so hard. It is. But with Mitchell Starc pulling out, I’m gonna say India, Pakistan, South Africa, and New Zealand.” The Natal-born expressed during the discussion.

Cummins went through the entire home summer of the five Tests against India with an ankle injury that ruled him out of the two red-ball fixtures in Sri Lanka at the start of 2025. His recovery has not processed well, while Josh Hazlewood picked up a new hip injury recently.

The two top all-rounders will also not play for the current ODI champions in the eight-team event. Mitchell Marsh picked up a back injury and missed the remainder of the summer, while Marcus Stoinis retired from the ODI format with immediate effect last week. That puts the Steve Smith-led side in a tricky situation of fielding their best eleven for the Champions Trophy.

India enjoys an all-round performance against England

The Indian team was in great touch during their 3-0 clean sweep against England in the recent home series. Their middle-order batting, in the absence of Virat Kohli due to injury, helped him chase 249 runs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur despite losing two early wickets. Shreyas Iyer cracked an aggressive half-century in the process.

During the second encounter at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Rohit Sharma tore apart the visiting bowling line-up with a comeback century as the blue brigade chased down the 300-run score quite comfortably with four wickets in hand.

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The same story continued during the third clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India put up a huge score of beyond 350 in the first innings. Jos Buttler’s army began the chase well but could not deal with the spinners in the middle overs and faced their second-largest defeat by runs.

Pakistan strengthens batting department before Champions Trophy

After a poor show with the bat against New Zealand in the tri-series opener, Pakistan display a better performance during the second encounter against South Africa at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Chasing 353 runs, Green Brigade was limping at 91/3 in the 11th over. But the 260-run stand for the fourth wicket between Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha, both of whom celebrated centuries, promoted them over the victory line by six wickets. They will hope to carry the same form in the Champions Trophy at home.