Champions Trophy 2025: Shoaib Akhtar picks his semi-finalists; skips Australia

Former Pakistani pacer and commentator Shoaib Akhtar has opened up on his semi-finalists for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to start on February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.

Akhtar has stated that Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan have good enough chances to make it to the semi-finals. Moreover, he predicted Pakistan to defeat India in the group stage encounter and wants the arch-rivals to clash against each other in the grand finale on March 9.

Furthermore, the Rawalpindi Express asserted that Afghanistan needs to showcase some maturity in the group stage in order to get into the knockouts of the showpiece competition in Pakistan.

"If Afghanistan's team shows maturity during the event, they could make it to the semi-finals," said in a media interaction as quoted by the Cricket Pakistan website.

"I believe Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan will reach the semi-finals of the 2025 Champions Trophy. I'm hopeful that Pakistan will defeat India on February 23. In fact, I believe that both Pakistan and India should also meet in the final of the tournament," Akhtar added.

India and Pakistan clashed against each other in the Champions Trophy 2017 final when Men In Green came out on top and clinched the title. The defending champions would be hoping to rewrite history when they meet Men In Blue this time around.

India last won the Champions Trophy title in 2013 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. In the upcoming event, India's group stage matches are against Bangladesh on February 20, Pakistan on February 23, and New Zealand on March 2.

The World Champions Australia will pose a big threat to all teams in the group stage and semi-finals. Though Akhtar didn’t name Men In Yellow as one of his favorites, we can expect them to bring in their A-game in this ICC showpiece competition.

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