After a long break, the Champions Trophy tournament is finally here, and all eight teams are set with their strong squads. On one hand, all eyes are on Steve Smith’s return as captain in an ICC tournament, especially with Pat Cummins missing from the Australian squad. On the other hand, India is ready with veterans like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
In ICC CT Match No. 1, the Blackcaps thumped Pakistan in the opening match of the Champions Trophy 2025, opening their account on the points table. In Match No. 3, which was the first match of Group B, South Africa defeated Afghanistan to get their first points.
However, the biggest development is that India convincingly defeated their arch-rivals Pakistan. Now, after New Zealand thumped Bangladesh, both Pakistan and Bangladesh are out of the tournament. Take a look at the Champions Trophy points table.
Champions Trophy Group A points table
| POS | TEAM | PLAYED | WON | LOST | N/R | TIED | Net RR | POINTS |
| Q1 | New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.863 | 4 |
| Q2 | India | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.647 | 4 |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -0.443 | 1 |
| 4 | Pakistan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1.087 | 1 |
Champions Trophy Group B points table
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (Q) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | +0.475 |
| South Africa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +2.140 |
| Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.990 |
| England (E) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.305 |
Champions Trophy format
Not much has changed since the tournament began in 2006, as the format has remained the same. A total of eight teams are slotted into two groups of four, with each team playing against every other team in their group once. The top two teams from each group will directly advance to the semifinals. There was talk of changing the format to T20 to attract more viewers, but this edition will again follow the same ODI format.
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