The Champions Trophy 2025 is just a day away. Recently, in a show, cricket experts like Suresh Raina, Kevin Pietersen, and Sanjay Bangar shared their predictions for the tournament’s four semi-finalists. However, Suresh Raina seems to have made a major error in his prediction.
Suresh Raina’s Miscalculated Prediction for Champions Trophy 2025
Suresh Raina has named India, Australia, South Africa, and Afghanistan as the four teams to reach the semi-finals. But this is mathematically impossible. According to the Champions Trophy format, two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
Group A features India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, while Group B consists of Australia, England, South Africa, and Afghanistan. Raina’s prediction implies only India would qualify from Group A and three teams from Group B, which goes against the rules of the tournament structure.
It seems Suresh Raina might have overlooked the tournament format and randomly picked the strongest teams from the eight participating nations. Interestingly, Raina backed Afghanistan over Pakistan in his prediction. This isn’t the first time he has done so — even during the 2023 World Cup, while predicting the semi-finalists, he excluded Pakistan and picked Afghanistan instead.
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Afghanistan had a decent tournament in the 2023 World Cup, but neither they nor Pakistan managed to make it to the semi-finals. The 2024 T20 World Cup was also outstanding for Afghanistan, as they reached the semi-finals of an ICC event for the first time.
However, in the 2025 Champions Trophy, they are placed in a group with three strong teams: Australia, England, and South Africa. Finishing in the top two of this group will be a challenge for Afghanistan.
