The 2025 Champions Trophy will be played between February 19 and March 9. Here is how much the eight participating teams are playing in the format until then.
As many pundits had predicted, the growth of franchise leagues have squeezed the two longer formats. The World Test Championship has guaranteed the nine participants play at least six Test series of at least two Test matches each over two years, but there is no restriction on ODIs or T20Is.
As a result, the eight participating teams will play a varying number of matches – from as low as three to as high as 17 – between August 8 and the 2025 Champions Trophy, the second-most prestigious event in the format after the World Cup.
Pakistan (hosts): 16 or 17 ODIs
Pakistan are not playing ODIs until November, when they visit Australia. They next tour Zimbabwe – who will not be part of the Champions Trophy – and South Africa in December, followed by New Zealand in January. Each of these tours will feature, with or without games in other formats, three ODIs.
Then, in February, they will host New Zealand and South Africa for a triangular tournament in a double round-robin league followed by a final – a throwback to the 1990s. Pakistan will play four or five ODIs there.
Afghanistan: 6 or 9 ODIs
Afghanistan were scheduled to ‘host’ Bangladesh for a full tour in July. This would have featured three ODIs, but the tour got indefinitely postponed. There is no clarity on whether it will take place before the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan’s only confirmed ODIs before the tournament were supposed to be in Zimbabwe in December. However, they will ‘host’ South Africa for three ODIs in September.
Australia: 8-11 ODIs
Australia will tour the British Isles in September for eight ODIs – three in Ireland, followed by five in England. As mentioned above, they will then host Pakistan for three more ODIs in November. However, the ODIs in Ireland have been postponed indefinitely. There is no clarity on when these will be played.
Bangladesh: 3 or 6 ODIs
Bangladesh’s abovementioned tour of Afghanistan, presumably in India or the UAE, may be rescheduled before the Champions Trophy. If that does not happen, their only ODIs will be the three matches in the West Indies in November.
England: 8 ODIs
After hosting Australia for five matches, England will play three ODIs in India in January before heading over to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
India: 3 ODIs
After this Sri Lanka tour, the three ODIs against England in January, as mentioned above, will be India’s only matches in the format before the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand: 13 or 14 ODIs
Barring Pakistan, New Zealand have the busiest pre-Champions Trophy schedule among the eight participant teams. They play three ODIs in Sri Lanka in November, before hosting Sri Lanka in December and Pakistan in January for three three-match series. That done, they compete with the hosts and South Africa for a triangular tournament in Pakistan, where they get an extra game if they make it to the final.
South Africa: 10 or 11 ODIs
South Africa will play Afghanistan in the UAE in September, and host Pakistan in December – for three ODIs each. These will remain their only games until the tri-nation tournament in Pakistan.
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