Dubai: The Champions trophy begins Wednesday with the eight best teams in the world competing in Pakistan and Dubai for the prestigious title.
AFP The sport analyzes three highly anticipated games in the group phase of the 50 out of 50 tournament:
Australia V England
Ashes rivals face Lahore on Saturday.
The Australian World Cup holders have had the advantage against their old enemies in the recent 50 higher games and won their previous series 3-2 last year.
But both enter the Champions Trophy with interrogation signs that hang on them.
Australia does not have its “Pacemen Tres Big”: Pat Cummins (ankle), Josh Hazlewood (Hip) and Mitchell Starc, who have chosen personal reasons.
Add the absences of SUVs Mitchell Marsh (back) and Marcus Stoinis (retired), and half of your regular team are missing.
The exhausted side suffered a strong defeat of the 2-0 series in Sri Lanka on the eve of the tournament.
England, with the test coach Brendon McCullum now in charge, was not better and was enchanted 3-0 in India.
Since he won the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup, England has had problems in the white ball cryket.
India V Pakistan
Television classifications shoot millions to see the archirrival every time they fight, due to the deep rivalry between neighbors with nuclear weapons.
The two teams meet Sunday in Dubai.
Shock tickets sold out minutes after sale, since more than 150,000 fans queued online to take a seat at the 25,000 capacity stadium.
India refused to visit Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, forcing the latter to partially deliver the rights of host to Dubai after a long confrontation.
In the countryside, India are favorite to win the tournament for the third time, in what is expected to be the international swan for Rohit Sharma.
Pakistan are the headlines and unpredictable.
Afghanistan v England
More than 160 British politicians asked England to boycott the party in Lahore on February 26 about the erosion of women’s rights by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan.
Captain Jos Buttler rejected the idea, saying: “I don’t think a boycott is the way to do it.”
Except for a last minute last minute clash, the game will continue.
After being well beaten in India last week, Buttler insisted that England can be “dangerous” in the Champions Trophy, even if recent evidence suggests otherwise.
Afghanistan has become an ascending force in the white ball cryket in recent years, reaching the eighth in the world ranking of Odi, a place under England.
The Afghas beat Australia on the way to a historical place of semifinals in the T20 World Cup last year, before losing to South Africa.
