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Neither India nor Pakistan, Rachin Ravindra picks New Zealand vs Australia as ICC Champions Trophy Final

Neither India nor Pakistan, Rachin Ravindra picks New Zealand vs Australia as ICC Champions Trophy Final

New Zealand can also face Australia in the semifinal or final, as they are placed in the same group as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be played in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That would suggest that Asian teams might have a slight edge. But, for Rachin Ravindra, two foreign teams would make the final of the 8-team tournament.

The New Zealand batter naturally favoured his home country but he didn’t chose hosts Pakistan for arguably the heavy favourites, India. Instead, Rachin picked Pat Cummins’ Australia as the other team which’ll play the ICC Champions Trophy Final on March 9.

No India or Pakistan in Rachin Ravindra’s ICC Champions Trophy Final

“It’s always very hard to predict (finalists) because you always want to say New Zealand because you’re involved. So hopefully we’re there. I mean, we’ll take it game by game, and the other groups, it’s pretty hard to count out people like Australia,” Rachin Ravindra told ICC.

On why he choses Australia over other six teams, the southpaw has an simple answer. He reckons to pick a team which currently holds the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship.

I think they’re a really good team, and they’ve shown how strong they are in all formats. Current holders of the ODI World Cup too. So hopefully it’ll be a Trans-Tasman derby,” Rachin added.

What the Kiwi batter said makes sense as well. The last time an ICC event happened in the Middle East (T20 World Cup 2021), the finalists were Australia and New Zealand. Albeit, this is a different format, but both teams were successful in slow conditions, unlike their home pitches.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Schedule

DateTeam ATeam BVenueTiming (IST)
19/02/2025PakistanNew ZealandKarachi14:30
20/02/2025BangladeshIndiaDubai14:30
21/02/2025AfghanistanSouth AfricaKarachi14:30
22/02/2025AustraliaEnglandLahore14:30
23/02/2025PakistanIndiaDubai14:30
24/02/2025BangladeshNew ZealandRawalpindi14:30
25/02/2025AustraliaSouth AfricaRawalpindi14:30
26/02/2025AfghanistanEnglandLahore14:30
27/02/2025PakistanBangladeshRawalpindi14:30
28/02/2025AfghanistanAustraliaLahore14:30
01/03/2025South AfricaEnglandKarachi14:30
02/03/2025New ZealandIndiaDubai14:30
04/03/2025Semi-final 1Dubai14:30
05/03/2025Semi-final 2Lahore14:30
06/03/2025Reserve Day
09/03/2025FinalLahore/Dubai14:30
10/03/2025Reserve Day14:30
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