David Warner Announces Steve Smith As Australia's Captain For Champions Trophy 2025

David Warner has backed Australia to do well in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and chose Steve Smith to captain the side in the ICC event. This comes after Australia lost the services of four key players before the tournament.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, and Marcus Stoinis will all miss the competition, forcing Australia to make up to four changes to their starting lineup. Cummins, Hazlewood, and Marsh are all out with injuries, while Stoinis has announced his retirement from the ODI format.

Australia has won the tournament twice and other than India, are the only team to win the competition more than once. They won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009 in India and South Africa respectively.

Warner backs Steve Smith as Australia's captain

Apart from this, Cricket Australia will also need to find a new captain and David Warner has backed Steve Smith to do the job in the absence of Pat Cummins.

“Steve Smith is leading our team in Tests in Sri Lanka, and he has experience of captaining and he will probably take that,” Warner told Sports Yaari when asked who will captain Australia in the Champions Trophy.

David Warner talks about the chances of the Australian team in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Warner, who retired from Twenty20s after Australia’s 2024 T20 World Cup exit, is currently representing the Dubai Capitals in the International League T20 (ILT20) in the United Arab Emirates.

Australia is set to play 2 ODIs against Sri Lanka before traveling to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy. The tournament will kick off on February 19 and Australia is placed in Group B with England, Afghanistan, and South Africa. They will kick off their Champions Trophy against England on February 22 in Lahore.

Warner speaks on senior players' absence

Warner was also asked about Australia’s chances in the Champions Trophy due to the absence of key players for the event.

“Our chances are very high, Pat Cummins, Hazlewood and Marsh are a big miss. But quality players are there to fill those shoes. Obviously different wickets will be prepared in Pakistan and there will be variables in play,” David Warner stated in the video.

David Warner Exclusive: Steve Smith will lead Australia in Champions Trophy; even without Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood & Marsh our chances of winning are high.#ChampionsTrophy2025 #patcummins #davidwarner #teamaustralia pic.twitter.com/ryZPE4ygNP

— Sports Yaari (@YaariSports) February 8, 2025

Australia has won the Champions Trophy twice, in 2006 and 2009, making it the most successful team in the tournament alongside India, which won in 2002 and 2013.

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