Can India win the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy?

Except for actually going all the way, Team India have maintained a great record in ICC tournaments since 2013—in ODIs, that is—progressing to at least the semis or final of an ICC tournament more times than any other country in the last decade. However, going past the final hurdle has been their Achilles heel. 

Despite doing exceedingly well during the league/group stage of every ICC tournament, India’s world comes down crashing as the knockouts take centre stage. It’s those 30–40 minutes of bad cricket that always takes the game away from the Men in Blue. 

Also read: ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Preview and Predictions

Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli getting tied down by Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga during the death overs in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup; Rohit Sharma, Kohli, and Shikhar Dhawan getting out in the space of five overs against Australia in the 2015 ODI World Cup semi-final; Mohammad Amir running through the Indian top order in the 2017 Champions Trophy final; Matt Henry doing the same in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final; and the 2023 ODI World Cup final—the list goes on. 

Going into the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy, two-time champions India will look to recreate the magic of 2013, having lost its last edition to arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. But it won’t be an easy task, with many key players either out of form or coming back from injury. 

Barring Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and Arshdeep Singh, this is the same squad that played in the 2023 ODI World Cup. However, eight of these fifteen lifted the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last summer, finally getting one over the line after a decade-long sequence of heartbreaks in ICC tournaments. 

If India make it to the final of the Champions Trophy, they’ll be playing all five matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Thus, understanding the conditions will be key for the Men In Blue. 

Looking at the ongoing International League T20, the pitches at the Dubai International initially had a grass covering and assisted the seamers, though in recent matches spinners have come into the fold. So, whether India start with four seamers (including Hardik Pandya) and two spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja or drop one seamer to bring in either Washington Sundar or Axar Patel will depend entirely on the surface they’ll be playing at. 

Moreover, the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Arshdeep Singh will keep any opposition batter on their feet. Looking at India’s overall bowling lineup, it is definitely one of the best in the tournament, though it’s their batting that has been misfiring lately. 

Since winning ten consecutive ODI matches during the 2023 CWC, India have not won an ODI since their semi-final win against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium. After losing the final against Australia, India lost their only ODI series in 2024 against Sri Lanka 2-0, having tied the first ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium. 

In all four games, India’s biggest issue was the inability of their top- and middle-order batters to bat through the innings. Besides, the series against Sri Lanka exposed the Indian batters’ vulnerability against spin bowling. 

Furthermore, not many in the current squad are in any sort of decent form. The captain, Rohit Sharma, has been under immense pressure due to his poor showings against New Zealand and Australia. Shubman Gill, too, is under the scanner after a poor tour of Australia. Virat Kohli has been struggling with his off-stump line, nicking edges off to the slip time and again. 

The same goes for the middle order. Shreyas Iyer, following a successful campaign at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, has gone off the boil recently in the domestic circuit. Rishabh Pant is also not in the best of forms, while KL Rahul is the only Indian batter that has looked assured of his technique, getting some runs under his belt recently. 

This is the first time in a very long time that India will be going into an ICC tournament with so many batters out of form, so it’s safe to say that India are not one of the favourites to win the tournament. 

Placed in a comparatively easier group alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, given the strength of their bowling department, India should have enough to reach the knockouts. From thereon, however, it’s anybody’s game, as evident from past tournaments. 

For India to win this tournament, they will need a lot of their out-of-form players to get their act together and fast. Given the squad is filled with match-winners, every match they’ll have to find someone to put their hand up and take the team home. 

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