2025 Champions Trophy tips:
The Champions Trophy returns on Wednesday after an absence of more than eight years and will be played across two locations – Pakistan and Dubai (live on Sky Sports).
The 50-over tournament, sees the top eight teams battle it out over the next two and a half weeks to be crowned champions on 9 March.
We start with two pools of four, with the top two in each group going through to the semi-finals.
Group A: Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Bangladesh
Group B: South Africa, Australia, Afghanistan, England
Pakistan are the holders of the trophy, after surprising India in the final at the Oval in 2017. They scored 338-4 from their 50 overs before bowling out India for just 158 in 30.3 overs to secure a mammoth 180-run victory.
It’s not a surprise to see that cricket betting sites have installed India as the favourites to lift the trophy at 13/8 this time though, after all they are number one in the world in the ICC ODI rankings. Australia, who are second in the world rankings and current world champions, are second favourites at 5/1.
The biggest surprise might be the fact that England are third favourites at 7/1 despite a recent run that has seen them drop to seventh in the world rankings, below Sri Lanka who failed to qualify for the tournament.
2025 Champions Trophy betting tips: Injuries could prove critical
It is always hard to see beyond India and Australia in this format of the game but both sides are missing key players due to injury.
Perhaps the biggest blow is the injury to Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who former England captain Nasser Hussain described as “the best player in the world, not the best bowler, the best player”.
As well as impacting India’s chances of winning the tournament, we all want to see the best players in the big competitions.
He has been replaced in the squad by Harshit Rana, who only made his ODI debut earlier this month, in the series against England taking six wickets in three ODIs against Jos Buttler's side and also causing controversy when appearing as a concussion substitute during the T20 series.
Australia will be without five key players for the tournament with captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green all out injured, while Marcus Stoinis has retired.
They have more than adequate replacements but losing that much experience from a 15-man squad is difficult for anyone to deal with.
They open their campaign against England on Saturday, so we will get a better idea of what to expect then but hopefully, we will see more from England than we did recently over in India.
Under new coach Brendon McCullum hopes were high for an upturn in fortune, but he will have realised pretty quickly just how much work is to be done if England are to return to the form that saw them win the 2019 World Cup and be number one in the world.
They lost the T20 series 4-1 before suffering a whitewash in the ODI series, losing all three matches earlier this month.
2025 Champions Trophy prediction 1: India to lift the trophy - 13/8 William Hill
2025 Champions Trophy top bowler prediction: Rashid to flourish
With matches being played in two different countries, the conditions in each are likely to favour very different types of bowlers.
The bulk of the tournament will be played in Pakistan but India's group-stage games, a semi-final and potentially the final will take place in Dubai - depending if India make it that far.
India have refused to travel to Pakistan since 2008, due to political tensions between the countries, leading to the absurd situation.
Betting sites have Indian spin bowler Kuldeep Yadav as joint-favourite to be crowned top bowler at odds of 7/1, with Australian spinner Adam Zampa.
Fellow Indian bowler Arshdeep Singh is the third favourite at 10/1, and his teammate Mohammed Shami is 11/1 while you can get 12/1 on England bowler Adil Rashid.
With India favourites to win, playing five matches increases the chances of taking wickets but with so many good bowlers, the wickets may well be spread throughout the side.
Rashid has been one of the most consistent bowlers for England in this format of the game and was a key feature in the side that dominated white-ball cricket for the best part of seven years.
Only one player has played more one-day internationals since the 2015 World Cup than Rashid and only Pakistan's Babar Azam and Ireland's Paul Stirling have played more T20 matches during the same period.
But the most impressive statistic is that no other bowler in the world has taken more one-day wickets in that period than the 37 year old.
Fellow leg-spinners Rashid Khan, Zampa and Yadav are next on the list but if Rashid is in form and his England team-mates can do their bit to stay in the competition then don’t rule out the England star.
2025 Champions Trophy prediction 2: Adil Rashid to finish as top bowler - 12/1 Unibet
2025 Champions Trophy top batsman betting: Azam to thrive at home
It’s no surprise to see an Indian batsman favourite to take the top batsman accolade with betting apps offering 8/1 on Shubman Gill, who is currently ranked second in the ICC ODI world rankings.
He recently scored 259 runs in the three innings against England, top scoring with 112 from 102 balls last time out.
Bizarrely the current number one ranked player in ODI cricket, Pakistan’s Babar Azam, is eighth in the betting odds at 18/1 despite the 30-year-old averaging over 55 from 126 matches.
He’s not in the best form right now, with just 62 runs from three matches this year but never rule out a return to form, especially on home turf.
India’s pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are both in the top six of the current world rankings are in the top five of bookmakers' favourites to impress.
Kohli is second favourite at 17/2 while Sharma sits just behind the Australian duo of Travis Head and Steve Smith at 12/1.
If you’re looking to back an England star then you can get 18/1 on Joe Root to impress again, we saw flashes of what he can do in India, particularly in Cuttack where he scored 69 from 72 balls.
2025 Champions Trophy prediction 3: Babar Azam to be top batsman - 18/1 BetVictor
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