Former England captain Nasser Hussain has put his weight behind India to win the Champions Trophy 2025. Hussain said India has a lot of depth in their squad despite the absence of their gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who has been ruled out with a lower back injury.
Bumrah suffered the injury in the Sydney Test against Australia. Meanwhile, India ended as the runners-up in the previous edition of the 2017 Champions Trophy as they suffered a huge loss of 180 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan in the summit clash.
Under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, India won the Champions Trophy in 2013 after beating England by five runs in the final.
Meanwhile, India’s strength in the eight-team tournament will be their batting unit as they delivered consistently in the recent three-match ODI series against England. Furthermore, India will play all their matches in Dubai and they will be familiar with the conditions.
Nasser Hussain wrote for Daily Mail, “I had Australia down to win the Champions Trophy six weeks ago, but since the loss of their three key seamers and two all-rounders, I now see India as firm favorites.Yes, they are without Jasprit Bumrah, who is the best cricketer on the planet at the moment. Mohammed Shami has also just come back from injury and looked a yard short of a gallop in the games against England.”
Hussain backed the likes of f Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer to deliver for India.
“But India have so much depth with the bat, with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, and so many spin options, who are all all-rounders as well. Another advantage India have is that they will play all their matches in Dubai, so they don’t have to travel and will get very used to the conditions.”
The renowned commentator backed Afghanistan as the dark horse of the tournament.
“While I actually haven’t got them going through to the semi-final, there is a lot of jeopardy in this tournament. If the conditions are there for Afghanistan, they will absolutely be a threat. Under the coaching of Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan have made incredible progress.”
Furthermore, Hussain is looking forward to seeing Fakhar Zaman perform consistently for Pakistan at the top of the order. It is worth mentioning that Zaman scored a match-winning century in the final against India in the 2017 Champions Trophy.
“Aside from the obvious stars like Sharma, Gill, Buttler, Travis Head and Kane Williamson, someone I’d like to have a good tournament is Pakistan opening batter Fakhar Zaman. He has been in and out of the side for a variety of reasons, but he is Pakistan’s dynamic hitter at the top of the order and can get them off to a flyer. If Zaman has a good tournament, then his team have got a great chance.”
Pakistan will play the opening match of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday.
