The Champions Trophy 2025 will be a tightly-fought tournament, with only eight sides in the whole competition and groups of four teams each. It will be the first time that Pakistan host a major ICC tournament in nearly three decades, with the last occasion coming during the 1996 World Cup. Ahead of the tournament, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has named the sides that he believes could very well make the semi-finals. However, Akhtar surprisingly did not specifically mention current world champions Australia.
Instead, Akhtar threw in a wildcard in his semi-finalists prediction.
“If Afghanistan’s team shows maturity during the event, they could make it to the semi-finals,” said in a media interaction in Dubai, as quoted by CricketPakistan.com.
“I believe Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan will reach the semi-finals of the 2025 Champions Trophy,” Akhtar added.
Afghanistan continue to impress in every ICC tournament. After finishing sixth and narrowly missing the semis of the 2023 World Cup, Afghanistan reached the last four of the T20 World Cup 2024.
However, Akhtar did not name a fourth team, instead settling for just the three Asian sides as of now.
With India and Pakistan locked in the same group, Akhtar’s prediction would suggest that he believes New Zealand would be knocked out, as well as Bangladesh.
Afghanistan, Australia, England and South Africa form the other group.
Akhtar also laid out his prediction for the much-anticipated India-Pakistan game.
“I’m hopeful that Pakistan will defeat India on February 23. In fact, I believe that both Pakistan and India should also meet in the final of the tournament,” Akhtar stated.
India and Pakistan squared off in the final of the previous edition of the Champions Trophy, in 2017, when Pakistan thrashed India by 180 runs to win the cup.
India had won the 2013 Champions Trophy, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. They will be aiming for a record third Champions Trophy title this time around.
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