 "India have played just three ODIs, all of them in the tour of Sri Lanka last year, since their runner-up finish in the ICC World Cup at home in 2023. PTI")
The attention of the cricketing world will return to the white-ball formats once the New Year’s Tests in Sydney and Cape Town come to an end. While South Africa are aiming to sweep the two-Test series against Pakistan at Newlands after clinching their spot in the ICC World Test Championship final with a victory in Centurion, India are fighting for survival at the SCG — for the WTC final as well as to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
It is, thus, only a matter of time before the attention shifts to the ICC Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to get underway on 19 February in Karachi with the tournament finally getting the green signal from the ICC after months of uncertainty due to a dispute between BCCI and hosts PCB.
However, there doesn’t appear to be much of a build-up to the ‘mini World Cup’ that returns to action after eight long years, with nearly all of the participating nations yet to announce their squad.
How many teams have announced their squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy?
Former ODI world champions England are the only team so far to have unveiled their squad for the tournament , with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also unveiling the squads for the limited-overs tour of India in which they will be playing five T20Is and three ODIs before travelling to Pakistan/UAE for CT 2025.
Joe Root, who has not played white-ball cricket since the 2023 ICC World Cup, has been included in the squad. Test captain Ben Stokes, however, misses out due to a torn hamstring for which he will have to undergo a surgery this month and will be hoping to regain fitness for the five-Test series against India at home.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsJos Buttler, meanwhile, has been retained as captain despite failing to defend England’s ODI and T20 world titles in India and in the US and Caribbean respectively.
When will two-time champions India unveil their squad for the Champions Trophy?
India, the team that had shared the trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 and won it in 2013 before losing spectacularly to Pakistan in the 2017 final, will be unveiling their squad for the tournament sometime in the second week of January, with Sports Tak listing 11 January as the date the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is likely to make the announcement.
India’s squad is expected to feature a majority of the players who are currently in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, including under-fire captain Rohit Sharma who opted out of the final Test in Sydney due to his horrendous run as batter and as captain.
Though his Test numbers haven’t been great since September, Rohit is a white-ball legend and is expected to be among the runs again in the upcoming white-ball season. He was, after all, the leading run-scorer (157 runs; ave: 52.33) in the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka – which the Men in Blue ended up losing 0-2.
When is the last date for teams to announce their squads for the Champions Trophy?
The deadline for the eight participating teams – England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh besides India and Pakistan – set by the ICC is 12 January – a little over a month before the tournament gets underway.
The tournament will commence with hosts Pakistan facing New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi while India — who will be playing all of their matches in Dubai, UAE — will face neighbours Bangladesh the following day.
The final will take place on 9 March – either at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore or at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, depending on whether India reach that stage of the tournament or not.