🏏Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan vs India, 5th Match, Group A🏏

🏏Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan vs India, 5th Match, Group A🏏

The common refrain among teams ahead of Sunday's expected high-voltage clash between India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy is, "It's just another game." Players from both sides have sought to downplay the pressure factor that typically accompanies a match between these traditional rivals.

"It doesn't change anything for us, honestly. We play every match to win the match and this is no different for us. And that is how we are going to prepare for this one as well," India vice-captain Shubman Gill said on the eve of the game. "There is no extra pressure; we are relaxed. We will treat it as just another match," Harris Rauf remarked on the contest. It is unlikely the players are entirely honest about their mindset and mental approach, particularly the Pakistan players.

With their survival on the line, Pakistan's players are feeling the pressure from all sides. Their bowling and batting floundered in the tournament opener against New Zealand, leaving the Mohammad Rizwan side teetering on the cliff. The bowlers were way off the mark and the batters struggled to accelerate.

During their net sessions at the ICC Academy on Friday night, the bowlers focused on swinging the ball in, something that was invisible in their performance against New Zealand. The batters, on the other hand, were consistently attempting big shots and aiming to clear the boundary - something they had struggled to do in their previous match.

A sense of urgency was evident within the Indian ranks as well. Virat Kohli, short on runs of late, alarmingly sparking concerns over his batting technique, arrived at the academy an hour before his teammates. Accompanied by a pair of throwdown specialists - one left-handed and the other right-handed - with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak in tow, Kohli batted for an extra hour, noticeably determined to regain his former flourish, sparkle and confidence. Most importantly the trademark Kohli swagger and confidence that would be so inherent in his cover drives have been missing of late. He is not leaving anything to chance to regain the touch.

Going by numbers and recent form, India should be the clear favorites, having won five of the six encounters against the traditionals rivals since the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Overall, Pakistan lead the head-to-head record 73-57, but in the past decade - especially since the 2015 World Cup - India have lost only one match, the 2017 Champions Trophy final, while winning seven with one no result.

The form and record clearly indicate India as the favorites, but Sunil Gavaskar, speaking on a television show Friday, said that while he believes Rohit Sharma's men are strong favorites, it would be impudent to discount the fact that a single game-changing moment from either side could shift the balance. Who will that game-changer be?

Big picture: Pakistan's fight for survival

If ever Pakistan needed a miracle, it is now. Not for the cricketers' fault, they find themselves isolated in international cricket to the extent that this is the first ICC event they are hosting in 29 years. And barely three days into the Champions Trophy, following a thrashing against New Zealand, they are staring at the exit sign of a party they waited three decades to host.

To stay alive in the tournament, Pakistan must beat their arch-rivals on a slow, tired track, where India have already played and won one match, and have five spinners to choose from. For no fault of India's cricketers, Pakistan must leave their own party and travel to Dubai because India refused to travel to Pakistan for reasons neither their board nor their government will specify. Would you blame Pakistan for feeling under siege when they must fight to even reinstate their nation's name in the official broadcast branding? At such times, the reasons behind any such omission can seem sinister even if they might not be.

It creates a weird dynamic between the two sets of cricketers. Despite all the machinations, the cricketers respect each other and are civil to each other to the extent that it annoys those who want their own hatred to reflect on the field. The edge is also perhaps because of the gulf between the two sides.

As is likely to happen with a team left isolated, Pakistan, once at the forefront of innovation in Asia, are woefully behind the times, especially in limited-overs cricket. India, once the land of accumulators but not always winners, are now continuously striving to push into the future. In an era that the ICC engineers its tournament schedules to ensure at least one big India-Pakistan match, it says a lot that Pakistan have won only in 2017 and 2021 since 2011.

More than the four-year pattern of wins, Pakistan will look at the conditions with some hope. The slow pitches in Dubai, recently used for the ILT20, call for an old-fashioned game that could neutralise to an extent India's big-hitting advantage in the middle overs. With no dew - 1pm starts anyway leave little room for dew to play a role - the toss on these pitches is a big advantage. In similar conditions last year, Sri Lanka got the better of India in a bilateral series at home with an unheralded spin attack. They won the tosses, batted first and got mid-200s in each game. Pakistan will hope for a repeat, but India will also lean on the lessons they have learnt.

When: February 23, 13:00 Local, 14:30 IST

Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium

What to expect: The weather forecast is bright and sunny and with little chance of dew coming in, the team winning the toss may choose to bat first.

Form guide

Pakistan LLWLW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)

India WWWWL

In the spotlight: Virat Kohli and Salman Agha

Virat Kohli has been out to legspin in each of the five last matches that he has faced such bowling. That's five dismissals for 21 runs in the last 46 balls of legspin he has faced in ODIs. Now Pakistan don't have a classic legspinner in their ranks, but Abrar Ahmed does turn the ball both ways like a legspinner. Most batters these days can hit big on flat tracks, but it is here you need the skill to pick singles without taking risks. It is not hard to imagine India needing just that in one of these games. Will the Kohli of the old turn up?

Salman Agha has been the silver lining for Pakistan in recent ODI cricket. Since 2024, he has scored the second-most middle-over runs for Pakistan: 325, at an average of 65.00 and a strike rate of 88.07. Pakistan will need all of his industriousness in the middle overs when India try to choke them with their slower bowlers.

Team news: Imam or Usman in place of Fakhar?

Imam-ul-Haq has come into the squad as the replacement for the one dynamic opener Pakistan had, Fakhar Zaman. Usman Khan is their other reserve batter, but if he does make his ODI debut, he will have to do so in an unfamiliar role: he bats at No. 4 in List A cricket.

India

Rishabh Pant is down with viral fever but that is unlikely to impact the playing XI of the Indian side. Rohit Sharma is expected to go with the same team that did the duty against Bangladesh on the ground on Thursday. It means Harshit Rana will continue to be preferred to left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh with Mohammed Shami leading the bowling attack.

India

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana.

Pakistan

Probable XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

India wanted to field first in their opening game against Bangladesh but given the way the pitch slowed up and how there was no dew, don't expect any side to make that mistake in Dubai again. Expect teams to make the most of powerplay before the middle overs tie them up. It is hard to see the trend changing on pitches that were recently used for a whole T20 tournament.

Did you know?

- Each of Pakistan's two wins against India in the recent past in ICC tournaments have come on the back of Pakistan seamers denting India in the Powerplay (Mohd Amir in CT 2017 final & Shaheen Afridi in T20 WC 2021).

- India have won 10 out of 13 ICC ODI matches against Pakistan but the rivals enjoy a slight a 3-2 W-L record against India in Champions Trophy making it the only ICC tournament where they have a positive W-L record against India.

- Gill currently has 2688 runs after 51 innings - the most by a player at that point. His average of 62.51 is the highest for any player while only Imam-ul-Haq (9) has scored more hundreds at the same point in his career.

What they said:

"I don't believe that over-hype or under-hype is a thing. India-Pakistan has a long history. It's an exciting contest when both these teams play. Everyone enjoys watching it. If so many people are happy to watch the match, then who are we to say that it is underhyped or overhyped? We go there to play cricket. Our effort is to play for the team I am playing for, to represent my country, and to win with all my heart." - Shubman Gill, on the rivalry between the sides.

"What is an India-Pakistan game without pressure? That is actually the beauty of it. You play 10 games and win all and there will still be pressure on the 11th game." - Aaqib Javed, on the the same topic of rivalry between the teams

Stats and trivia: India dominate Pakistan

India have won nine of their last 11 completed ODIs against Pakistan, across the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.

Pakistan have beaten India in three out of five matches in the Champions Trophy, including the 2017 final.

Kohli needs 15 runs to become only the third man - and the fastest among them - to score 14,000 ODI runs.