NEW DELHI : India and Pakistan, known for their epic ICC clashes, will face off in the fifth match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on February 23 in Dubai. Both teams are in Group A with Bangladesh and New Zealand.
India started the tournament with a commanding 6-wicket win over Bangladesh, while Pakistan, having lost to New Zealand, will be under pressure.
Due to strained relations, India and Pakistan have rarely faced each other in the past decade. Security and political reasons led India to refuse playing in Pakistan, shifting the match to Dubai.
Team Form
India enters the 2025 Champions Trophy strong, after a 3-0 series win over England. Pakistan has had mixed results, excelling against lower-tier teams but struggling against top-tier opponents. India has won seven of the last eight ODIs against Pakistan, with Pakistanโs last win in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, India narrowly defeated Pakistan by six runs.
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Player Stats and Predictions
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Rohit Sharma: 873 runs in 19 ODIs against Pakistan
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Virat Kohli: 678 runs, including 3 centuries, in 16 ODIs against Pakistan
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Mohammad Rizwan: 49 runs in 3 matches against India
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Babar Azam: 218 runs in 7 ODIs against India
Other players to watch out โ Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Md. Shami, Kuldeep, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Khushdil Shah.
Pakistanโs Fakhar Zaman, who scored a winning century against India in the 2017 CT, has been ruled out of the tournament.
India is expected to retain their batting order against Pakistan. While their bowling order remains unchanged, Arshdeep Singh may replace Harshit Rana. Overall, Indiaโs bowling appears more impactful compared to Pakistanโs.
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Expert Opinions
Pakistan bowling great Waqar Younis pointed out that India has five spinners in their squad, while Pakistan has only one specialist spinner. โYou are being very nice to us. You are saying 80-20 in Indiaโs favour on a flat pitch. Even if it turns, India has four spinners and we have one spinner,โ
โThis is a big game, both teams will be under pressure. India will have an edge and are the favourite team but the wicket is such that the team who performs well on the given day will win,โ Pujara said.
โIf we talk about match-winners, Iโd say that India has more match-winners compared to Pakistan. A match-winner is someone who knows how to win the game single-handedly. Right now, we donโt have such players in Pakistan,โ Shahid Afridi said.
โPakistan is nowhere near to Indiaโs league. India have dominated them right throughout in recent times, and this time, Pakistan look even weaker, but that hasnโt done anything to take the shine off the battle,โ Manjrekar said.
Dubai Pitch Report
The pitch in Dubai favors bowlers, with recent 50-over matches generally yielding low scores, as seen in Indiaโs match against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy. Only four teams have scored over 300 runs at this venue in the 50-over format. The average first innings total is 219 runs, making a target of over 250 runs quite challenging.
Match Predictions and Details
India and Pakistan are both past Champions Trophy winners. Pakistan are the defending champions from 2017, while India won in 2002 and 2013.
Both India and Pakistan have strong cases for winning. India might have a slight edge due to their recent form and historical success, but Pakistanโs home advantage and current form cannot be underestimated. The match promises to be closely contested.
The IND vs PAK Champions Trophy 2025 match will begin tomorrow at 2:30 PM IST and will be available for live streaming and telecast in India.
