India was the runners-up during the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017 when they lost the final against Pakistan at the Kennington Oval in South London. The eight-team tournament hasn’t taken place since then, and a lot of excitement has grown in the past few weeks since the schedule of the event was announced.
India featured in just three ODIs in 2024 in Sri Lanka, as they drew the first encounter and lost the last two fixtures to get defeated in the series under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir. There have been only six games in the 50-over format for the Blue Brigade since the 2023 ODI World Cup.
In the past few ICC events, India has been challenged by their arch rivals, Pakistan, and it would be the same according to the former left-arm pacer of the green brigade, Mohammad Amir, who predicts a tough time on February 23 at the Dubai International Stadium.
Mohammad Amir predicts Pakistan’s victory over India in Champions Trophy 2025
Pakistan have been in tremendous touch in the 50-over format in recent times under the captaincy of wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan, as they earned a three-match series victory in Australia with a 2-1 margin before winning the following two trips in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
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“The way Pakistan has played recently — defeating Australia in Australia and then beating South Africa — shows their strength, especially in overseas conditions.” Amir expressed this during a recent interaction as quoted by the Times of India.
Even though the recent form of the Babar Azam and Co. would give them the upper hand, India will always be the favorite to do well in the marquee tournaments.
The new sensational left-handed opening batter of Pakistan, Saim Ayub, drilled 515 runs in just nine ODI innings at an average of 64.37 and a strike rate of 105.33 with the help of three centuries and one half-century at the best score of unbeaten 113 runs. Their former captain, Babar Azam, also smacked 228 runs in six innings of the 50-over format at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 76.51, shouldering on a couple of half-centuries at the best score of 73.
“Considering their recent performances, I think Pakistan will have the upper hand against India. However, India has always been my favorite in big tournaments. But the Indian team is under pressure and facing severe criticism due to their recent defeats.” The former fast bowler commented.
India started the previous year in a rollicking manner with a home Test series victory against England before they lifted the T20 World Cup 2024 with an unbeaten campaign. They started the home season with a clean sweep over Bangladesh in the Test and ODI series. But since then the graph started to go down.
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They were whitewashed with a 0-3 margin in the three-match Test series at home against New Zealand, which happened for the very first time in the history of Indian cricket. Under Jasprit Bumrah in the absence of Rohit Sharma, they earned a 295-run victory in the series opener of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 but went on to lose the series by a 3-1 margin.
All of these resulted in India’s disqualification from the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 at Lord’s for the first time in the three editions. They hope to end the embarrassment with a better performance in Champions Trophy 2025, which will begin for them against Bangladesh on February 20.