Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that India and Australia will be the finalists of the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025. The marquee event is scheduled to start from February 19 and the final will take place on March 9. The 50-over tournament will be played in a hybrid model where India will play all their matches in Dubai. Pakistan's Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi will serve as venues for the showpiece event.
Australia's legendary captain Ponting reckons that It's hard for the teams to go past India and Australia in the upcoming Champions Trophy.
“It's hard to go past India and Australia again,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“Just think about the quality of players in both countries right now, and you look back in recent history when these big finals and big ICC events have come around and inevitably Australia and India are there somewhere,” he added.
Team India will start their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Bangladesh on February 19 and on the other hand Australia will play their opener clash against ashes rivals England on February 22 in Lahore's Pakistan.
But there was another contender in the mix, according to the former Australia skipper. Ponting believed hosts Pakistan could pose a strong challenge to the two teams.
"The other team that is playing some really good cricket at the moment is Pakistan. Their one-day cricket over the last little bit has been absolutely outstanding. We know they're not always the most predictable team in those big tournaments, but they seem like they've sorted things out a little bit," he said.
India and Australia Champions Trophy 2025 Squads
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, (one further player to be added)
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.