Courtesy : Star Sports
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has declared Afghanistan as his dark horse for the Champions Trophy 2025 to be played in Pakistan and Dubai. In the eight-team competition, Afghanistan are in Group B, along with heavyweights Australia, England, and South Africa. The Afghan team will begin their campaign against South Africa at Karachi’s National Stadium on February 21.
Afghanistan has played a fierce brand of cricket in the last two ICC events, including ODI World Cup in 2023 and T20 World Cup in 2024. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, they also reached the semi-final and registered their maiden entry in ICC knockouts. Noting their extraordinary performances in recent time, Parthiv Patel picked Afghanistan as a dark horse as he feels the Hashmatullah Shahid-led pack can surprise quality sides in the ODI extravaganza to be played for 19 days.
“There'll be India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia just given the record in the ICC trophies. But my dark horse is Afghanistan. They've got they've played really good cricket in 50-over format. It was just that Glenn Maxwell’s innings otherwise I think they were right there in the race to reach semifinals. So you know Afghanistan could come in and surprise all other teams,” said Parthiv while talking to Star Sports.
Kevin Pietersen reveals his four semi-finalists
Former England player Kevin Pietersen has also revealed his four teams that can qualify for the knockouts. He excluded Australia after Mitchell Starc pulled out of the competition due to personal reasons.
“I mean, this is so hard. It really is. But with Mitchell Starc pulling out today, I'm gonna say India, Pakistan, South Africa, and New Zealand,” Pietersen remarked.
Australia will play the tournament without their formidable fast-bowling trio Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood. Earlier, their all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement from international cricket just a couple of weeks before the marquee event. In Cummins’ absence, the Aussies will play under veteran Steven Smith’s captaincy.
