Not Kohli, but the main man in India’s middle-order in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be Shreyas Iyer, who is an excellent player of spin. But during the IND vs ENG ODIs, he also hammered the English pacers with disdain. Against England, he scored 181 runs at a strike rate of 123 with two fifties to his name.

Bitter rivals India and Pakistan rarely play each other on the cricket field, but when they do there is an unparalleled thirst for tickets.

Pakistan will host a first major multi-country cricket tournament in nearly three decades next week and its cricket chief is hopeful that a successful Champions Trophy will bring a flood of other such events.