Champions Trophy cricket: team-by-team guide to the tournament

Pakistan have a potentially destructive pace attack, Australia have been weakened and Afghanistan will debut. Coach Phil Simmons Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto Champions Trophy best Semi-finals 2017. Fixtures India (20 February, Dubai), New Zealand (24 February, Rawalpindi), Pakistan (27 February, Rawalpindi). Bangladesh might be the world’s ninth-ranked ODI team, thereby coming into this eight-team tournament as clear outsiders, but Najmul Hossain Shanto, their captain, insists “we are going to the Champions Trophy to become champions … I believe our team has the ability.” Perhaps, but they have not played an ODI for more than two months and start their tournament against the relative might of India in Dubai, before shifting country and conditions to play their final two games in Rawalpindi.

This is their first ICC event since 2006 that they will play without the all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, their all-time leading wicket-taker in the format, who is currently banned from bowling in international matches as a result of being reported for throwing during the one County Championship game he played for Surrey last season. Phil Simmons, the former West Indies all-rounder who was named interim coach last October, has a contract that expires at the end of the tournament.

One to watch Taskin Ahmed. Eleven years after he made his debut as a teenager the 29-year-old has matured into a reliably threatening leader of the Bangladesh attack, and he comes into the tournament in superlative form having taken a record 25 wickets in the BPL, the country’s T20 franchise competition, that finished this month. Coach Gautam Gambhir Captain Rohit Sharma Champions Trophy best Champions 2002 & 2013.

Fixtures Bangladesh (20 February, Dubai), Pakistan (23 February, Dubai), New Zealand (2 March, Dubai). Having caused organisational confusion with the on-off, will-they-won’t-they uncertainty over their willingness to set foot on Pakistani soil before finally getting their fixtures shunted to the UAE, India had to cope with a bit of unwanted last-minute reorganisation themselves after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out just a week before the tournament starts with a back injury.

Harshit Rana, the most successful seamer in the recent ODIs against England, has replaced him, and their success without Bumrah in that series – albeit against limited and apparently uninterested opposition – will have boosted their confidence. Varun Chakaravarthy, the 33-year-old mystery spinner recently praised by coach Gambhir for being “a massive threat with a lot of teams who haven’t played him … he could be an x-factor”, is a surprise call-up having made his first and so far only ODI appearance this month, reflecting his success since returning to the T20 side after a three-year absence four months ago.

One to watch Harshit Rana. Rana describes his selection, ahead of the more experienced and high-profile Mohammed Siraj, India’s most successful ODI bowler of the last three years with 66 wickets, as “a dream come true” but in the absence of Bumrah and having made his international white-ball debut only last month, the 23-year-old finds himself under unusual pressure to perform. Coach Gary Stead Captain Mitchell Santner Champions Trophy best Champions 2000.

Fixtures Pakistan (19 February, Karachi), Bangladesh (24 February, Rawalpindi), India (2 March, Dubai). Since the last World Cup New Zealand have lost their senior seamers, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, and though Kane Williamson remains in the squad he stood down as captain last year, with Mitchell Santner leading the side into his first ICC tournament. Lockie Ferguson, an irregular international since he turned down a central contract – he last played an ODI in 2023 – has recovered from a hamstring injury and will lead the seam bowling attack along with Matt Henry, augmented by three bowlers coming into their first major tournament in Will O’Rourke, Jacob Duffy (a late replacement for the injured Ben Sears) and Nathan Smith.

They will play in the opening game against the hosts – given the challenge of commuting to Dubai to play India, the winners of that match will earn a massive advantage in the race for a semi-final spot – having also faced them twice in the recent tri-nation series. One to watch Kane Williamson. Not exactly a risky pick, but after playing no ODIs between New Zealand’s final match of the 2023 World Cup and their first of the tri-series Williamson immediately asserted his class, with a half-century against Pakistan in Lahore followed by an unbeaten 133 against South Africa, his 14th century in the format but his first this decade, and comes into the tournament in cracking form.

Coach Aaqib Javed Captain Mohammad Rizwan Champions Trophy best Champions 2017. Fixtures New Zealand (19 February, Karachi), India (23 February, Dubai), Bangladesh (27 February, Rawalpindi). The Champions Trophy may be the oft-forgotten runt of the ICC’s litter of tournaments but for Pakistan, who lasted hosted (jointly, in that case) a major trophy in 1996, just welcoming (most of) the world’s major cricketing nations to their country, having successfully completed significant last-minute stadium renovations in Lahore and Karachi, is an achievement to be celebrated.