Patel names Champions Trophy ‘dark horse’

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has named the ‘dark horse’ of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.

The eight-team tournament is set to commence from February 19 in Pakistan, and will be played across four venues, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Dubai.

Based on conditions and recent performances in white-ball cricket, Patel selected Afghanistan as one of the surprise contenders for the prestigious tournament.

He named Pakistan, India, South Africa and Afghanistan as final four of the tournament.

“There’ll be India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia just given the record in the ICC trophies,” said Prathiv.

“But my dark horse is Afghanistan. They’ve got they’ve played really good cricket in 50-over format. It was just that Glenn Maxwell’s innings otherwise I think they were right there in the race to reach semifinals. So you know Afghanistan could come in and surprise all other teams,” he added.

The Afghan side, who already reached Pakistan, will start their campaign against South Africa at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi on February 21.

They will then travel to Lahore to face England on February 26 and Australia on February 28.

Afghanistan squad for Champions Trophy 2025:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.