Match Details
Date: February 23, 2025
Time: 2:30 PM IST
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the UAE
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Preview
Pakistan will be playing their second ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match in Group A against arch-rivals India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the UAE. After suffering a big defeat by 60 runs against New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament in Karachi, the Men in Green need to win their next two games, to keep their hopes alive for a semi-final. With that, they will have to deliver one of their best performances in quite some time against India, who got the better of Bangladesh already.
Pitch Report
The pitches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium have been quite worn down after a lot of cricket has been played on them this season, and in the first match between Bangladesh and India, it got difficult for the batters as the day went on. Therefore, any total in excess of 270 could prove to be a really tough one to chase down during the Pakistan versus India clash in a couple of days’ time, especially if no dew falls down at night.
Team Analysis
Pakistan
In the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan top order struggled to take the attack to the New Zealand bowlers, and their star batter Babar Azam faced severe criticism for one of his slowest fifties, but the likes of Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah batted with great urgency and attacking intent for their respective scores. Meanwhile, in the bowling side of things, the lack of assistance for pacers and spinners alike as the innings continued, didn’t allow the Pakistan bowlers to put sustained pressure on Kiwi batters in the tournament opener.
Champions Trophy 2025 squad of Pakistan
Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
India
In their first game of the Champions Trophy, the Indian opener Shubman Gill continued his rich vein of form in ODI cricket, scoring a hundred under difficult circumstances, to help his team chase down a decent total on a tricky pitch against Bangladesh. Earlier, the Indian bowling attack was quite spectacular in the early stages of the innings, reducing Bangladesh to 35/5 with Axar Patel finding himself on a hat-trick, and later on, Mohammed Shami picked up yet another five-wicket haul.
Champions Trophy 2025 Squad of India
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Match Prediction
Conclusion
India are hot favourites to get the better of Pakistan, owing to their consistent ODI form and recent results in the format against the same opposition, but they can’t afford to take their arch-rivals lightly.
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