ICC keeps Champions Trophy 2025 an 8-team tournament; Check why West Indies and Sri Lanka are not participating in the Pakistan-hosted mega tournament

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has finally made the much-awaited announcement for the schedule of the 9th edition of the Champions Trophy 2025 after months of tussling between BCCI and PCB, on 24 December (Tuesday). The mega tournament is all set to commence on 19 February. The opening clash will be played between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi and the final will take place on 9 March. The marquee event will see 8 teams taking part in 15 matches across 18 days. The tournament will be played under the hybrid model policy with Pakistan being the host and Dubai will be playing the role of neutral venue.

“The eight sides in the Champions Trophy competing for the famous white winners’ jackets are the teams that finished in the top eight positions on the points table of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Group A of the tournament features current Champions Trophy holders and hosts Pakistan, along with India, New Zealand and Bangladesh, while Group B features Cricket World Cup 2023 champions Australia, alongside Afghanistan, England and South Africa,” ICC stated in their announcement.

Groups

Group A – Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Bangladesh

Group B – South Africa, Australia, Afghanistan, England

Why Sri Lanka and West Indies are not participating in Champions Trophy?

Only 8 teams have competed in the ICC Champions Trophy since 2009, split into two groups of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals after each team plays one game against the other three teams in their group. For ultimate triumph, the victors of the two semi-finals then square off against one another in the final.

Sri Lanka and West Indies are the two big cricketing teams that will not be a part of the Champions Trophy 2025. Only 8 teams were set to participate in the mega tournament which will be hosted by Pakistan and those 8 teams were decided based on their spot in the ODI World Cup 2023 league table. However, As Sri Lanka finished at the 9th spot they were unable to qualify for this tournament. As for West Indies, they could not even qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023, which eliminated them from the contentions of the final 8 spots.