ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India's schedule fixed with a practice match in Dubai

As the dates for the Champions Trophy 2025 are nearing, the teams are starting to prepare for the marquee ICC tournament. A no. of ODIs will be played by the teams in the coming days to prepare for the big tournament.

Team India will also play a practice match before their opening game of the tournament against Bangladesh on February 19. The warm-up game will give the team valuable experience before the tournament and thus, will be important to them.

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India to play a practice match

According to Sports Tak, India's practice match will take place in Dubai just a few days ahead of their opening clash against Bangladesh. The date and the opponent of the match are yet to be decided but will be finalized in a few days.

🚨 PRACTICE MATCH FOR TEAM INDIA 🚨

- Men in Blue is likely to play at least 1 Practice match at Dubai ahead of the Champions Trophy. [Sports Tak] pic.twitter.com/dQtStDawQP

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 9, 2025

"Practice matches are yet to be announced, and training facilities are being worked out. But at least one game will be given to India for practice before the start of their competition. The team is yet not finalized," a source was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.

It is likely to be an important match for the Men in Blue given their lack of ODI cricket going into the tournament. They last played an ODI in August 2024 against Sri Lanka. They lost the three-match ODI series 0-2 to the host nation.

India's schedule for Champions Trophy 2025

After the practice match, India will begin its tournament with a match against Bangladesh. The Men in Blue will then face Pakistan in a high-voltage game on February 23. Their last league match will be played against New Zealand on March 2.

They will play all their matches in Dubai after their government refused to send their team to Pakistan due to security concerns. Dubai was chosen as the alternate venue to host the matches involving India. If the Men in Blue manage to make it to the knockout stage, they will continue to play in Dubai.

India are in Group A alongside, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, and hosts Pakistan. Group B includes the other teams of the tournament - Afghanistan, Australia, England, and South Africa. The top two teams from each group will make it to the semi-finals.

India's ODI series against England

India will also play a three-match ODI series against England just days before the Champions Trophy. The series is seen as a preparation for the tournament. A no. of high-profile names can be expected to play in this series.

The three ODIs will be played in Nagpur, Cuttack, and Ahmedabad on February 6, 9, and 12. It is believed that both teams will be aiming to fine-tune their preparations and field a full-strength ODI squad at some point during this series.