Who Are The Favourites To Make Champions Trophy 2025 Semi-Finals? All Scenarios Explained

It is the biggest cricketing event of the calendar year as the world's best eight teams get ready to lock horns with one another in the ICC Champions Trophy which gets underway in Karachi from the 19th of February. The million-dollar question then is - who are the favourites to win the tournament? How much will home-advantage help Pakistan? Why are New Zealand again the Dark Horse and what is ailing Australia, England and South Africa?

India - the highest impact batting unit
India are, by some distance, the best batting unit going into the tournament. They have the best batting average and strike rate in ODI cricket since 2023 which means that not only are they scoring big but are also doing so at an alarming rate! India have crossed 350 on as many as 10 occasions in the last couple of years - the most for any team in this time-frame. They have annihilated the opposition by a margin of 100 or more runs in nine encounters while hammering them by seven or more wickets in nine more! They dominated the 2023 World Cup at home before running into Australia in the final.

India are the number one ranked ODI team in the world and at the top of their game in the format. They are in form having smashed England 3-0 at home in their last bilateral series before the Champions Trophy.

Rohit Sharma may be at the cusp of retirement in Test cricket but remains a dynamic force at the top of the order for India in ODIs - as he recently showcased with a masterclass hundred in a 300-plus chase against England in Cuttack. Kohli still boasts of the highest batting average in ODI history while no batter in the world has scored more runs than Shubman Gill since 2023. Shreyas Iyer has returned with a bang and was in scintillating form in the