ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Sarfaraz Ahmed picks the 4 semi-finalists

Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has picked the four semi-finalists for the upcoming edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Sarfaraz Ahmed predicted Pakistan, India, Australia, and Afghanistan to be the four semi-finalists for the upcoming Champions Trophy.

While Pakistan, India, and Australia are strong contenders, the decision to include Afghanistan came as a huge surprise. The wicketkeeper-batter made a shocking prediction by ruling out both England and South Africa from his list.

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Sarfaraz Ahmed predicts four semi-finalists of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Just days before the Champions Trophy 2025 gets underway, Sarfaraz Ahmed was excited to see a big ICC event in Pakistan. When asked about picking the four semi-finalists, he made shocking predictions ruling out teams like England, South Africa, and New Zealand from the list.

"If I had to pick four semi-finalists, I'd probably go for Pakistan, India, Australia, and Afghanistan at this stage, but I would not rule anyone out," Sarfaraz was quoted as saying by MyKhel.

Afghanistan have been impressive in the latest ICC events and have drastically improved over the years. They reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024 which was a historic occasion for them.

Being the hosts, Pakistan are expected to do well in this tournament. Meanwhile, India and Australia have been the current powerhouses in the cricketing world and even reached the final of the last ICC 50-over event, which was the ODI World Cup 2023.

Sarfaraz also mentioned that the pressure of being the host country will be on Pakistan as they are also the defending champions. However, he feels that the fans will come out in huge numbers to increase the morale of their team.

"There will be pressure. Pakistan being at home, being the defending champions, there will be high expectations, but the fans will get behind them," he added.

Sarfaraz Ahmed on Pakistan's chances

Speaking further, Sarfaraz Ahmed remembered the time when he led Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy title. He feels that Pakistan are strong and have a great chance of winning the title as they still have players who played in the 2017 winning squad.

"Karachi is a fitting host for the opening game and it will kick-start three weeks of brilliant cricket in a tournament that changed my life. Winning this trophy in 2017 was the best day of my cricket career. Although it is eight years ago now, every June when the anniversary comes round, I see videos on social media and it gives me goosebumps, Sarfaraz said"

"Pakistan have a really good chance of defending that title and I think they have a strong team. Some of the boys from 2017 are still there and we're talking about some of the best - especially Babar Azam," the wicketkeeper added.

Sarfaraz Ahmed on the India-Pakistan match

Sarfaraz Ahmed also shed light on the highly anticipated India-Pakistan clash which will take place on February 23 in Dubai. He feels that the players just try to shut out the outside noise and concentrate on their process before such an important fixture.

"Whenever we meet, it is a special occasion and there is so much hype and pressure around it. But as players, you need to stay calm, try and block that noise out, and just play with the same intensity as you would play Australia or any other team," Sarfaraz observed.

India and Pakistan are in Group A of the Champions Trophy. Both teams will face each other on February 23 in Dubai. Pakistan will play the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand on February 19 while India will open their campaign against Bangladesh on February 23.