Former Australian and Indian great players Ricky Ponting and Ravi Shastri predicted the two former champion teams as the finalists of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 set to begin on February 19 in Pakistan.Â
Ponting and Shastri made bold predictions about two teams reaching the finals due to their recent performances in major tournaments.
The duo made these predictions in a bumper episode of The ICC Review while speaking to the host Sanjana Ganesan.
While sharing his views in the episode Ricky Ponting predicted Australia and India to play in the big final.
”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” said the Australian legend.
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Meanwhile, Ponting also named Pakistan as another team that could pose a significant 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 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” Ponting concluded.
Moreover, along with tipping the Indian team to go all the way in the tournament, Former India head coach Ravi Shastri predicted England and South Africa as the other semi-finalists of the mega event.
The eight-team ICC Champions Trophy will consist of 15 matches over 19 days and will take place in Pakistan and Dubai.
In Pakistan, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi will be the three venues to host tournament play. Each Pakistan venue will feature three group games apiece, with Lahore hosting the second semi-final.
Lahore will also host the final on 9 March, unless India qualify, in which case it will be played in Dubai. Both the semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.
The three group matches of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 involving India, as well as the first semi-final, will be played in Dubai.
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