Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has backed India to win the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, slated to get underway in Pakistan and Dubai on February 19. In fact, Clarke shockingly, by his own admission, feels India will beat Australia in the final of the tournament. However, Clarke hoped that Australia can somehow prove him wrong, in what would be a repeat of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Australia, in front of packed crowd in Ahmedabad, broke Indian hearts to win their fifth ODI World Cup title.

During a recent interaction, Clarke admitted that India are the team to beat, but hoped that his former side can add another ICC title to their cabinet.

“My fingers are crossed for Australia, so I am going to say Australia is going to be one of them, and I think they are going to play India in the final. (Repeat of the 2023 ODI World Cup final) that’s what I am hoping for,” Clarke said on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.

“You know what, I think India is going to beat Australia in the final. Can’t believe that just came out of my mouth. I think India is going to win the tournament. I am going with them,” added Clarke, who was part of Australia’s Champions Trophy winning side in 2006.

Clarke also picked India captain Rohit Sharma to finish the tournament as the leading run-getter. 

“Well, I’m saying India is going to win, so I’m going with their captain who’s back in form. I’m going to say Rohit Sharma will be the leading run-scorer in the tournament. Wouldn’t it be great to see him back in wonderful form? It’s good to see him making runs again. Absolutely, I think India needs him for sure,” Clarke said.

As far as the leading wicket-taker is concerned, Clarke took England pacer Jofra Archer‘s name. 

“Wow, most wickets? Well, when we did the PSL last year, it didn’t spin that much; the wickets were slow. I’m going to go with a fast bowler. I’ll pick Jofra Archer as the leading wicket-taker. I know England might not do that well, but I think he’s a superstar. Jofra is going to be really hard to play, so I’m going to have him as my leading wicket-taker.”

As for the ‘Player of the tournament,’ Clarke added: “If it’s between India and Australia, I’m going with Travis Head. His IPL form was phenomenal, his Australian summer Test form was phenomenal, and after a short break in Sri Lanka, he’s ready to go again,” he signed off.

Two-time winners Australia will be on a quest to regain the Champions Trophy title after a gap of 15 years. They had won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009 but have failed to reach the finals in the 2013 and 2017 editions, after which the event was discontinued. For the 2025 edition, the reigning 50-over World Cup winners are placed in the four-team Group B which also includes England, South Africa, and Afghanistan. Australia will open their campaign with a clash with arch-rivals England at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 22.

Be seized by injuries, Australia will be hoping to come out unscathed from the league phase and go into the semifinals without losing a single match. But it could be easier said than done for the depleted squad that is missing five first-team players as they found out in losing 0-2 to Sri Lanka in the ODI series after blanking the hosts in two Tests in Galle.

With the Champions Trophy set to start on February 19 with a match between host Pakistan and New Zealand, Australia will be looking to overcome a slew of setbacks in recent times to go all the way. Here’s an IANS SWOT analysis for Australia’s campaign in mega event.

Strengths: With proven white-ball experts like Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell in their ranks, Australia have a strong batting line-up. Steve Smith returns as captain, substituting for regular skipper Pat Cummins who is recuperating from an injury. They have brought in some young turks, who would be eager to prove themselves. In Adam Zampa, they have a spinner capable of exploiting the conditions offered in Pakistan. With the addition of leggie Tanveer Sangha and some young fast bowlers, Steve Smith’s Australia will be hoping to put up a strong fight in every match.

Weaknesses: The inexperienced bowling attack could prove their achilles heel in the absence of Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and pace-bowling all-rounders Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis, who quit cricket recently. Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis, along with Nathan Ellis and Aaron Hardie will be hoping to breach the gaps left by the absence of experienced fast bowlers. Their batting looks more balanced than their bowling attack and that derails them in crucial matches against strong and better-balanced sides.

Opportunities: With the infusion of young blood to make up for the loss of exceptional campaigners, Australia come into the Champions Trophy with confidence in their domestic structure that regularly produces world-class players. Despite being battered by injuries, Australian players have the pedigree and skillset to overcome setbacks. Teams can’t afford to underestimate Australia, as they have players that can turn things around on their own on any given day.

Threat: The major task for Smith and the Australian team management will be to put on the field a strong side with the right balance of experienced and young players. The first challenge for them will be to win the group, as that would allow them to avoid the in-form side from the other group in the semifinal. In England, they have an opponent that has been battered by India in the recent white-ball series. South Africa too have been weakened by injuries to some key players, while Afghanistan is capable of surprising any team on their day.

Australia will have to put their best foot forward in each match if they have to go all the way. They can’t afford to make a lot of mistakes.

The Australian cricket team arrived in Pakistan on Monday to participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The tournament begins with a match between hosts Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday. Pakistan are also the defending champions having won the last edition of the tournament in 2017 in the UK where they beat India in the title clash. “The Australian cricket team has arrived in Lahore for the @ICC #ChampionsTrophy 2025! They will play their first match of the tournament on 22 February against England at the Gaddafi Stadium,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) posted on X.

The Australian cricket team has arrived in Lahore for the @ICC #ChampionsTrophy 2025!

They will play their first match of the tournament on 22 February against England at the Gaddafi Stadium pic.twitter.com/mN7R07OyaE

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 17, 2025

The team landed in two separate groups. The first batch, which included captain Steve Smith, coaches, and support staff, arrived from Colombo via Dubai.

The second group, comprising 15 players and two additional members of the support staff, followed the same route and reached Lahore later the same day.

Like India, who will be playing all their matches in Dubai as per the hybrid model agreement, the Australian team will also not feature in any warm-up matches, as they were very recently involved in a two-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which they lost 2-0.

After their opener against traditional rivals England, Australia will play their second match against South Africa on February 25 at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, followed by a final group-stage outing against Afghanistan on February 28, again at Gaddafi Stadium.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa.

SRH Schedule IPL 2025: Sunrisers Hyderabad will be entering the new Indian Premier League season hoping to go one better, after finishing runners-up in IPL 2024. Led by Pat Cummins, the men in orange and black looked rejuvenated in 2024, with the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma proving to be the deadliest opening pair in the tournament. Those three, alongside Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Reddy, form a strong core retained by SRH. They also boosted their roster in the IPL 2025 mega auction with the acquistions of Mohammed Shami and Ishan Kishan among others.

Here is Sunrisers Hyderabad’s IPL 2025 schedule in full:

SRH vs RR – 3:30 PM IST –  March 23 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

SRH vs LSG – 7:30 PM IST – March 23 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

DC vs SRH – 3:30 PM IST – March 30 – Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

KKR vs SRH – 7:30 PM IST – April 3 – Eden Gardens, Kolkata

SRH vs GT – 7:30 PM IST – April 6 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

SRH vs PBKS – 7:30 PM IST – April 12 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

MI vs SRH – 7:30 PM IST – April 17 – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

SRH vs MI – 7:30 PM IST – April 23 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

CSK vs SRH – 7:30 PM IST – April 25 – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

GT vs SRH – 7:30 PM IST – May 2 – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

SRH vs DC – 7:30 PM IST – May 5 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

SRH vs KKR – 7:30 PM IST – May 10 – Uppal Stadium, Hyderabad

RCB vs SRH – 7:30 PM IST – May 13 – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

SRH vs LSG – 7:30 PM IST – May 18 – Ekana Stadium, Lucknow

Sri Lanka spinner Dunith Wellalage took four wickets to give a hapless Australia their lowest ever total in Asia with a 174-run loss in Friday’s second and final ODI. Chasing a target of 282 in Colombo, a much-changed Australia testing their lineup for next week’s Champions Trophy were bundled out for a meager 107. The spectacular collapse saw them lose their last seven wickets for just 28 runs. “Not the best result we wanted. We used lot of players and everyone got a game,” Australia skipper Steve Smith said. 

“Credit to Sri Lanka. They deserved the series win. We struggled a bit in Colombo… Their bowlers were superb.”

Asitha Fernando set the tone with a fiery opening spell of 3-23 in four overs before the spinners tightened the screws.

Wellalage triggered the collapse, bamboozling Josh Inglis with a skiddy arm ball that crashed into the stumps. In his next over, he delivered another peach, rattling the dangerous Glenn Maxwell‘s timber to finish 4-35.

Wanindu Hasaranga joined the party from the other end to take three more including Smith, who was trapped plumb in front.

This emphatic victory sealed a 2-0 series win for Sri Lanka against the defending world champions and propelled them to fifth in the ODI rankings. 

It also told the cricketing world that Sri Lanka’s absence from the upcoming Champions Trophy, after finishing ninth in the 2023 World Cup, will be felt. 

“Not often you beat Australia,” Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said. 

“Today was our day and the spinners did a superb job,” he added. “We are disappointed that we are not in the Champions Trophy… the important thing is that we don’t get into a similar situation again.”

Sri Lanka’s batting had been under the microscope in recent weeks, but the top order silenced critics with a commanding display. 

Kusal Mendis was the star of the show, crafting a superb 101 — his fifth ton in ODIs and first against Australia. 

He found ample support from half-centuries by Nishan Madushka (51) and Asalanka. 

Fresh from a match-winning hundred in the opener, Asalanka bludgeoned an unbeaten 78 off just 66 balls, peppering the boundary with six fours and three towering sixes.

The foundation was laid by a 98-run partnership between Kusal and Madushka for the second wicket, stabilising the innings after an early loss. 

Kusal then built on the momentum, stitching a 94-run stand with Asalanka for the fourth wicket. 

Australia made five changes as they fine-tune their lineup ahead of next week’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai. 

Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Travis Head, Josh Inglis and Ben Dwarshuis all came in.

Out went Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, Cooper Connolly, Spencer Johnson and Nathan Ellis.

Tim Southee in action© AFP

Sri Lanka vs Australia Live Scorecard 1st Test Day 1© PTI

Rohit Sharma was elected as the captain of the ICC T20I Team of the Year for 2024, after leading India to a second T20 World Cup title in the year. Despite poor form in Test cricket, Rohit won his first piece of ICC silverware as India captain, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament as well. Three other Indians featured in the ICC XI, in the form of pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh and all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cup 2024.

Travis Head was selected to open alongside Rohit Sharma, while Phil Salt was also included in the XI, as the No. 3 batter.

Head amassed 255 runs in seven games at the T20 World Cup, finishing as the third-highest run-scorer. The Australian had a superb 2024, and also made his mark in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Phil Salt hit three T20I centuries in 2024, and found a spot in the ICC XI.

Nicholas Pooran was the highest run-scorer across T20s in 2024, amassing over 2,000 runs, and was chosen as the wicket-keeper in the XI. Pakistan stalwart Babar Azam also found a spot, having scored 738 runs in 23 innings, despite not having the best T20 World Cup.

Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza, India’s Hardik Pandya and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan were selected as the all-rounders in the team. Pandya was arguably the best all-rounder in the T20 World Cup, while Rashid led Afghanistan to a historic first semi-final.

Bumrah had a phenomenal T20 World Cup 2024, picking up 15 wickets, while Arshdeep was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 17. The latter picked up 36 wickets in 18 games in 2024.

Alongside Rashid Khan, Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga was selected as the other spinner in the ICC T20I Team of the Year.

ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024: Rohit Sharma (c), Travis Head, Phil Salt, Babar Azam, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sikandar Raza, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.

File image of Sam Konstas© AFP

Team Australia in action© AFP