Picture Credit: X
The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy is moving towards the business end of the tournament with the semi-final spots being almost decided. Till now, India and New Zealand from Group A along with Australia from Group B have already secured their place in the knockout round of this tournament. Afghanistan and South Africa are in contention for the last spot of the semi-finals. With how the current scenario is for the England versus South Africa game, it looks very definite that the Proteas will advance to the semi-finals alongside Australia from Group B.
India, who are playing all of their matches of the Champions Trophy in Dubai, due to security concerns and diplomacy issues with Pakistan, will also play their semi-final match at the Dubai International Stadium. This means that whichever side is drawn to play against India in the semi-finals from Group B, will have to travel to the UAE from Pakistan after the completion of their group stage matches.
Australia and South Africa set to travel to Dubai before determining where their semi-finals will take place
Australia and South Africa are the potential opponents to face India in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. And now, it is understood that both of these teams will arrive in Dubai, the UAE by Sunday. The decision has been made in order to give the teams maximum amount of time for preparation ahead of the high-profile semi-finals. However, this also means that whichever team is not drawn against India in the semi-final tie, will have to travel back to Pakistan to face New Zealand for the other semi-final match.
So, while this decision does favor one team in giving it more prep time for the match, it does pose a serious disadvantage to the other having to travel to and from Pakistan within a span of two days. With Afghanistan’s chances of going to the semi-final looking extremely bleak, the top four in the Champions Trophy will be the same as that of the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India.
