Champions Trophy 2025: Parthiv Patel names this team as 'dark horse'

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel tipped Afghanistan to be the dark horse of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, set to take place in Pakistan and the UAE next week.

Based on their strong recent performances in limited-overs cricket, Patel selected Afghanistan as one of the surprise contenders for the prestigious tournament, alongside India, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia, who are more traditionally strong in ICC events.

“There'll be India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia just given the record in the ICC trophies," said Parthiv.

"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,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention that the Hashmatullah-led Afghan team will kick off their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign at the newly renovated National Bank Stadium in Karachi on February 21, facing South Africa.

They will then travel to Lahore to take on England on February 26 and Australia on February 28.

Afghanistan has been showing remarkable progress in ICC events. They were in contention for a semi-final spot at the 2023 ODI World Cup and earned a semi-final berth at the T20 World Cup 2024 after a dominant win over Australia.

Afghanistan squad for Champions Trophy 2025:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.

Afghanistan's ICC Champions Trophy 2025 schedule:

• 21 February, Afghanistan v South Africa, Karachi, Pakistan
• 26 February, Afghanistan v England, Lahore, Pakistan
• 28 February, Afghanistan v Australia, Lahore, Pakistan