There are only two weeks remaining for the Champions Trophy 2025. This prestigious ICC limited-overs event ranks next to the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup in the pantheon of world cricket. As the reigning ODI World Cup champions, Australia, along with India as the defending T20 World Cup champions, will be the top favorites to make the Champions Trophy 2025 their own. Though India will play in Dubai, while the other matches will be staged in Pakistan, Australia is certainly a team never to be underestimated.
As the Champions Trophy approaches, Australian captain Pat Cummins has thrown the gauntlet down to the rival sides in a TV commercial. In the ad, which promotes the Champions Trophy, Cummins can be seen sledging in front of the camera. And so he addresses Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, and Virat Kohli with the following lines.
“Oi Ben, I am not stokes about you.”
“Hey Pope, you better start praying.”
“Hey Kohli, I have never seen you bat this slowly.”
“More Like Quinton de Block. I am Pat Cummins for you. Get mean.”
In the meantime, Shubman Gill, vice-captain of India, set the tone for the upcoming ODI series against England Tuesday and said that the Men in Blue are not taking it as practice for the Champions Trophy 2025.
India will play their first ODI match against England at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday.
Barabati Stadium will host the second ODI match, while Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium will host the third and final match of the series on February 12.
India will have a homogenous squad in the three-match ODI match series, as in the ICC Champions Trophy, barring the replacement of Jasprit Bumrah with Harshit Rana.
Shubman Gill hailed the Three Lions during the pre-match press conference while saying they would be playing against a “good bunch” before the ODI series. He further added that this particular series against England is “very much significant” for them.
“I think we are playing against a good side. Three ODIs and it’s not a practice before the Champions Trophy. It’s a very important series for us. Every series is very important. We want to dominate and win this series like other series,” Gill informed reporters.
