Everything about 2025 Champions Trophy- Fixture, Venue, Groups

ICC tournaments are a feast for all the cricket fanatics. They get to witness quality cricket as the best teams across the globe participate and display some top level cricket. Moreover, cricket rivalries add up the spice in many matches. Now, as the 2024 T20 World Cup is over, everyone is eagerly waiting for the 2025 mega ICC tournament. 

The 9th edition of Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan from 19 February till 9 March 2025. In total, 15 matches will be played among 8 nations who will be competing hard to clinch the title. The qualification criteria based on which these 8 teams are participating is quite simple, the top 8 teams from the 2023 World Cup are eligible by default and will be touring Pakistan. Sri Lanka wouldn’t be featured as the island nation failed to fulfill the minimum requirements for qualification, Afghanistan will be taking their place instead.  

This tournament is very special for all Pakistan natives as it will be the first global tournament that Pakistan will host after the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka national team and hence there will be a lot of exuberance within the locals and they are expected to come in large numbers. 

Venue for 2025 Champions Trophy

National Stadium, Karachi

This stadium is the largest stadium in Pakistan and can accommodate roughly 34,000 spectators. The inaugural match between New Zealand and Pakistan will be played here. Not only that, Semi-final 1 is also scheduled on this ground. The pitch is expected to be batting friendly as it mostly remains flat. It assists pacers as the wicket is quite bouncy. As per the past records, the team batting first has won on more occasions than the team batting

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 

Tournament’s most important match, that is, the finals will be played in this stadium. This ground has the capacity of 27,000 people. Like the National Stadium, the pitch in Lahore too supports batters and medium pacers. 

It shall be noted that Pakistan has the best lot of pacers and they will be playing in their home conditions. Hence, pitch curators will create a wicket that is more suitable to fast bowlers so that they can take the maximum benefits of their home conditions. Total 22 T20I matches have been held here, out of which, team batting first have won on 13 occasions and team batting second have won on 9

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 

Among the three venues, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium is the smallest ground with a capacity of merely 15,000 spectators. Semi Final 2 will be played here. The wicket and weather conditions here help in early seam movements. Moreover, as the game progresses, it turns into a batting friendly pitch. There is a greater probability that the team winning the toss will opt to ball first. 

Group division in 2025 Champions Trophy 

All the teams are divided into two groups of four. In round one, teams will compete in a round robin format, that is, each team will play a match against all the other teams of the same group. After that, in round 2, top two teams from both the pools will play knockout semi finals and then the climax- finals is scheduled on 9th March, 2025. 

Groups are divided as follows: 

Group A - Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan 

Group B- Afghanistan, Australia, England, South Africa 

Fixture 

Winning predictions 

Top 3 teams who have a brighter chance of grabbing the title this time are India, Pakistan and Australia. Pakistan will be the most exciting contender as they will be playing in their home conditions after a very long time. They will have an edge. Plus, they will be looking to retain their 2017 Champions Trophy title. Their bowling attack looks packed but their batting line up is a bit concern as the team realised heavily on Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. 

India, on the other hand, will be high on confidence as they would be willing to replicate their 2024 T20 World Cup performance. They might not be the crowd’s favorite, but men in blue will give their best to clinch another ICC title. All the players look in solid form as they are having a purple patch and the team's performance is at its peak. Presently, Indian team is doing extremely well in all the three formats, plus their bench strength also looks solid. Hence, they have a really bright chance to lift 2024 Champions Trophy title.

Lastly, Australians too have a good chance as they are always the strongest contenders. They switch on their beast mode in major tournaments and that is when they get dangerous for every other team in the world. They always have a well balanced side, but what makes them great is their mindset and their aggression at big stages.

But the bottom line is nothing is certain in cricket. The side which implements better on a given day will get closer to the title. Overall he can expect 15 days full of excitement and dourn our jerseys to support our favorite team.