Group A

Bangladesh

Coach Phil Simmons Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto Champions Trophy best Semi-finals 2017

Fixtures India (20 February, Dubai), New Zealand (24 February, Rawalpindi), Pakistan (27 February, Rawalpindi)

Bangladesh might be the world’s ninth-ranked one-day international team, thereby coming into this eight-team tournament as clear outsiders, but Najmul Hossain Shanto, their captain, insists “we are going to the Champions Trophy to become champions … I believe our team has the ability”. Perhaps, but they have not played an ODI for more than two months and start their tournament against the relative might of India in Dubai, before shifting country and conditions to play their final two games in Rawalpindi.

This is their first International Cricket Council event since 2006 that they will play without the all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, their all-time leading wicket-taker in the format, who is banned from bowling in international matches as a result of being reported for throwing during the one County Championship game he played for Surrey last season. Phil Simmons, the former West Indies all-rounder who was named last October as the interim coach, has a contract that expires at the end of the tournament.

One to watch Taskin Ahmed. Eleven years after he made his debut as a teenager the 29-year-old has matured into a reliably threatening leader of the Bangladesh attack, and he comes into the tournament in superlative form having taken a record 25 wickets in the BPL, the country’s T20 franchise competition, that finished this month.

India

Coach Gautam Gambhir Captain Rohit Sharma Champions Trophy best Champions 2002 & 2013

Fixtures Bangladesh (20 February, Dubai), Pakistan (23 February, Dubai), New Zealand (2 March, Dubai)

Having caused organisational confusion with the on-off, will-they-won’t-they uncertainty over their willingness to set foot on Pakistani soil before finally getting their fixtures shunted to the United Arab Emirates, India had to cope with a bit of unwanted last-minute reorganisation themselves after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out just a week before the tournament starts with a back injury.

Harshit Rana, the most successful seamer in the recent ODIs against England, has replaced him, and their success without Bumrah in that series – albeit against limited and apparently uninterested opposition – will have boosted their confidence.

Varun Chakaravarthy, the 33-year-old mystery spinner recently praised by coach Gautam Gambhir for being “a massive threat with a lot of teams who haven’t played him … he could be an X-factor”, is a surprise call-up having made his first and so far only ODI appearance this month, reflecting his success since returning to the T20 side after a three-year absence four months ago.

One to watch Harshit Rana. Rana describes his selection, ahead of the more experienced and high-profile Mohammed Siraj, India’s most successful ODI bowler of the last three years with 66 wickets, as “a dream come true” but in the absence of Bumrah and having made his international white-ball debut only last month, the 23-year-old finds himself under unusual pressure to perform.

New Zealand

Coach Gary Stead Captain Mitchell Santner Champions Trophy best Champions 2000

Fixtures Pakistan (19 February, Karachi), Bangladesh (24 February, Rawalpindi), India (2 March, Dubai)

Since the last World Cup, New Zealand have lost their senior seamers Tim Southee and Trent Boult, and though Kane Williamson remains in the squad he stood down as captain last year with Mitchell Santner leading the side into his first ICC tournament. Lockie Ferguson, an irregular international since he turned down a central contract – he last played an ODI in 2023 – has recovered from a hamstring injury and will lead the seam bowling attack along with Matt Henry, augmented by three bowlers coming into their first major tournament: Will O’Rourke, Jacob Duffy (a late replacement for the injured Ben Sears) and Nathan Smith. They will play in the opening game against the hosts – given the challenge of commuting to Dubai to play India, the winners of that game will earn a massive advantage in the race for a semi‑final spot ­– having beaten them twice in the recent tri-nation series.

One to watch Kane Williamson. Not exactly a risky pick, but after playing no ODIs between New Zealand’s final match of the 2023 World Cup and their first of the tri-series Williamson immediately asserted his class, with a half-century against Pakistan in Lahore followed by an unbeaten 133 against South Africa, his 14th century in the format but his first this decade, and comes into the tournament in cracking form.

Pakistan

Coach Aaqib Javed Captain Mohammad Rizwan Champions Trophy best Champions 2017

Fixtures New Zealand (, Karachi), India (23 February, Dubai), Bangladesh (27 February, Rawalpindi)

The Champions Trophy may be the oft-forgotten runt of the ICC’s litter of tournaments but for Pakistan, who last (jointly) hosted a major trophy in 1996, just welcoming the world’s major cricketing nations to their country, having successfully completed significant last-minute stadium renovations in Lahore and Karachi, is an achievement to be celebrated.

Whether they will have more than that to celebrate will depend on their potentially destructive pace attack of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Muhammad Hasnain, and on the contributions of Babar Azam, struggling for form across formats and recently shifted up to open the batting after Saim Ayub was forced out of the tournament with an ankle injury, “a huge all-round blow for us … a huge disturbance”, according to captain Mohammad Rizwan.

One to watch Babar Azam. In 2017 Babar was the youngest member of the Pakistan squad that won the Champions Trophy by thrashing India at the Oval. One of three survivors of that team he is now officially, according to ICC rankings, the world’s best ODI batter (just). “He is a different Babar to the one that played in 2017, a more mature player and a dominant player,” said Sarfaraz Ahmed, the captain eight years ago. “His batting will be so important.”

Group B

Afghanistan

Coach Jonathan Trott Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi Champions Trophy best First appearance

Fixtures South Africa (21 February, Karachi), England (26 February, Lahore), Australia (28 February, Lahore)

After coming one Glenn Maxwell miracle innings away from the semi-finals of the last World Cup, and then actually reaching the final four of the T20 version last year, Afghanistan come into their first Champions Trophy as one of the form teams of white-ball cricket. They are without the hugely promising teenage mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, ruled out with a fractured vertebra, but even without him their squad includes the three youngest players in the tournament (Naveed Zadran is its only teenager) as well as its oldest, their spin-bowling ranks featuring the 40-year-old Mohammad Nabi plus Noor Ahmad, who was born precisely two days and 20 years after him. Add Rashid Khan, the world’s top-ranked ODI bowler, into the mix and even without Ghazanfar and Mujeeb Ur Rahman they have serious strength in depth in the spin department. The question is whether they have the batting depth required to take them to the knockout stages again.

One to watch Azmatullah Omarzai. In the last two years Omarzai has had seven ODI innings in which he has scored five runs or fewer and 17 when he has scored six or more; in those 17 he has seven fifties and a century and an average of 95.11. If Afghanistan’s middle-order batting is a concern, the all-rounder (he has taken 26 wickets at an average of 30.50 in the same time) playing to his potential would go a long way to alleviating it.

Australia

Coach Andrew McDonald Captain Steve Smith Champions Trophy best Champions 2006 & 2009

Fixtures England (22 FebruarySaturday, Lahore), South Africa (25 February, Rawalpindi), Afghanistan (28 February, Lahore)

Australia go into the tournament without Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Marsh, all ruled out with injury, as well as Mitchell Starc, who withdrew for personal reasons, and Marcus Stoinis, who announced his ODI retirement from ODIs this month. All of this means that, from the squad that won the World Cup just 15 months ago, they have lost their second-, third- and fourth‑highest wicket-takers, their first- and second-highest run‑scorers (David Warner, who topped that list, retired in the middle of last year), and both their captain and vice-captain.

What remains is not so much a young squad – they have three players under the age of 29 – but a relatively inexperienced one: the 23-year-old spinner Tanveer Sangha and the 29-year-old seamer Spencer Johnson had two ODI caps when called up, and the 30‑year‑old seamer Ben Dwarshuis, who played for Durham last year in the T20 Blast and has signed for Worcestershire for this year, just one.

One to watch Spencer Johnson. Just three years ago Johnson was working as a gardener to top up his meagre cricket earnings, but a breakthrough Big Bash campaign in 2022-23 thrust him into the limelight and a bumper IPL deal with Gujarat Titans capped an ascent almost as rapid as his 90mph-plus deliveries. Now, at 29 and with Australia’s established seam-bowling stars all absent, the pressure is really on.

England

Coach Brendon McCullum Captain Jos Buttler Champions Trophy best Runners-up 2004 & 2013

Fixtures Australia (22 February, Lahore), Afghanistan (26 February, Lahore), South Africa (1 March, Karachi)

England have been a bit of a rabble of late: batters underwhelming, pace bowlers unthreatening, spin bowling understaffed, work ethic questioned. Brendon McCullum has taken over the white-ball side and promised “to strip away the fear of failure”, a challenge his side got plenty of practice at during a miserable warm-up tour of India. “If we can add a little bit of craft and give ourselves a bit of confidence then some of that talent will flourish,” he said.

Ben Stokes and Jacob Bethell might both be out with hamstring issues but prayers to the injury gods have been answered with both Jofra Archer and Mark Wood reporting fit for duty. Even so, the squad looks a bit light both on batting and on any high-class support for Adil Rashid. A 0-3 whitewash in India leaves England nursing a 3-8 overall record over the past 12 months, though Pakistan’s flatter pitches should play to their strengths.

One to watch Liam Livingstone. The unbeaten 124 against West Indies in November, when he appeared inspired by the temporary responsibility of captaincy, was the kind of performance that England will badly need in Pakistan but that Livingstone has managed only occasionally. Their middle order flopped in the warm-up series in India, where Livingstone averaged just 18.33, and improvement is essential. He will also need to contribute with the ball, as Rashid’s principal spinning support.

South Africa

Coach Rob Walter Captain Temba Bavuma

Champions Trophy best Champions 1998

Fixtures Afghanistan (21 February, Karachi), Australia (25 February, Rawalpindi), England (1 March, Karachi)

Semi-finalists at the 2023 World Cup, finalists in the 2024 T20 version, South Africa look to be building towards something, potentially a first ICC trophy since they won this event, then known as the Wills International Cup, in 1998.

Less encouragingly, they have lost eight of 11 ODIs over the past 12 months – two of their wins coming against Ireland – including their past six in a row (though their squad for the tri-nations tournament that completed their preparations was weakened by the involvement of several key players in the latter stages of the SA20).

“Our recent performances show that we’re capable of reaching the latter stages of global tournaments,” their coach, Rob Walter, said. “We’re eager to take the next step and go even further in pursuit of the coveted silverware. The squad boasts a wealth of experience [which] is invaluable in a tournament like this.” There are six players aged 33 or older and two younger than 26, the only notable absences being Gerald Coetzee and the luckless Anrich Nortje.

Player to watch Marco Jansen. Against both New Zealand and Pakistan in the recent tri-series South Africa batted first, posted decent scores and failed to defend them. But their bowling ranks have since been boosted by the arrivals of Kagiso Rabada and Jansen, who could be transformational if he can maintain the form that meant he was named player of the tournament in the SA20.