The 2025 Champions Trophy has reached its half-way mark and much of it has been on predictable lines. The biggest talking point mid-way into the tournament is the embarrassing ouster of hosts Pakistan after suffering massive defeats at the hands of New Zealand and India. (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
While the wickets have been absolute belters across the in Pakistan, Dubai has offered some respite to the bowlers due to its slow and abrasive nature.
Chasing has been an advantage while, with the exception of the Australia-England encounter, all other contests have been one-sided drubbings in the competition.
We look at the trend and patterns and talking points of the first half of the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Chasing Advantage
Teams chasing have won four of the six matches in the tournament and quite emphatically! Three of the four chases have been with six wickets in hand and more than 20 balls to spare.
Australia mauled down a record target of 352 set by England in Lahore with five wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare – the highest chase in any ICC white-ball tournament.
New Zealand, despite losing early wickets, romped home against Bangladesh with five wickets in the kitty and 23 balls to spare. The dew has played its part, especially in Pakistan.
Run-feast in Lahore & Karachi
There have already been four 300-plus totals in six matches – two each in Lahore and Karachi – which are the flattest wickets in the tournament. Lahore has a combined batting strike rate of 114 while Karachi stands at 92.75.
Meanwhile, Dubai has offered some purchase to the spinners due to its slow and low nature. While the slower bowlers haven’t picked heaps of wickets at the venue (11 wickets at an average of 37.1 in two matches), they have managed to keep the flow of runs in check with a combined economy rate of 4.36.
Overall though, the flat nature of wickets has meant that most matches have been batting shootouts with the team with more depth and destructive prowess in the line-up, coming out victorious.
This augurs well for teams like India and Australia – the latter seem threatening even without their ace pace trio - and it is also one of the reasons why Pakistan have looked a B-grade team and have been ousted from the competition.
No close encounters
The 2025 CT has not really seen a thriller yet and we are halfway into the competition. The closest we have come was the clash between England and Australia when the latter gunned down a record chase of 352 in Lahore – however, they did so with relative ease with five wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare!
Three other chases have come with five-plus wickets and 20-plus balls to spare. The two wins for the team setting a target have seen a margin of 60 and 107 runs.
Correlation between Maximizing Powerplay & Wins
Teams which have maximized their powerplay have outperformed the opponents in this edition of the Champions Trophy. In five the six encounters thus far, the team which has scored more runs in the first 10 overs has gone on to win the match.
India have continued with their aggressive template in the powerplay and smashed 69 (against Bangladesh) and 64 (against Pakistan) in the first 10 overs. Australia smashed 76 against England in Lahore – the highest team score in the powerplay so far.
