The eight-nation ICC Champions Trophy' 2025 is set to begins on February 19, 2025 in Pakistan in promises to deliver intense cricketing action among the top teams in the world. Hosts Pakistan will play New Zealand in the opening match on February 19 in Karachi Bangladesh is likely to start their campaign taking on their giant neighbor India on the following day (February 20) at neutral venue in Dubai. BCB announces much-needed pay rise for women cricketers with central contracts The much-anticipated India vs Pakistan clash will take place on February 23. The highly anticipated tournament, hosted by Pakistan, will feature eight teams divided into two groups, will play across the Pakistani city of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.  Grouping of Champions Trophy : Group A: Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh Group B: South Africa, England, Australia, Afghanistan U-19 cricketers get cash bonus from BCB for Asia Cup triumph As per latest ICC ruling, all the matches of the Indian team will be held in neutral venue, likely in Dubai,  as per its hybrid deal. The grand final will commence on March 9, 2025, with March 10 reserved as the backup day Tentative schedule of the Champions Trophy. Date Time (IST) Venue Match February 19, 2025 2:30 pm Karachi Pakistan vs New Zealand February 20, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral Bangladesh vs India February 21, 2025 2:30 pm Karachi Afghanistan vs South Africa February 22, 2025 2:30 pm Lahore Australia vs England February 23, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral Pakistan vs India February 24, 2025 2:30 pm Rawalpindi Bangladesh vs New Zealand February 25, 2025 2:30 pm Rawalpindi Australia vs South Africa February 26, 2025 2:30 pm Lahore Afghanistan vs England February 27, 2025 2:30 pm Rawalpindi Pakistan vs Bangladesh February 28, 2025 2:30 pm Lahore Afghanistan vs Australia March 1, 2025 2:30 pm Karachi South Africa vs England March 2, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral New Zealand vs India March 4, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral Semi-Final A1 vs B2 March 5, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral Semi-Final B1 vs A2 March 9, 2025 2:30 pm Neutral Final March 10, 2025 - Neutral Reserve Day  

Lionel Messi opened the scoring and Neymar scored twice as French champion Paris Saint-Germain beat French Cup winner Nantes 4-0 to win the Champions Trophy on Sunday. Messi, the record seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, netted midway through the first half. Taking a deflected pass from Neymar, he went past goalkeeper Alban Lafont before scoring with a fine finish. Read:England beats Germany in extra time to win Euro 2022 Neymar expertly guided a free kick into the top left corner in first-half injury time to put coach Christophe Galtier's side 2-0 up at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, which hosted the game for the second straight year. Veteran defender Sergio Ramos made it 3-0 in the 57th minute from close range and Neymar converted a penalty in the 82nd after being fouled by Jean-Charles Castelletto, who was sent off. Galtier, who guided Lille to the league title against the odds in 2021, now has his first trophy at PSG. He replaced Maurico Pochettino after he was fired. Antoine Kombouare, who once coached PSG, helped Nantes win its first trophy in 21 years when it won the cup.

Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) on Sunday announced a 28-member preliminary squad of Bangladesh national hockey team for the six-nation Hero Asian Champions Trophy (Hockey) 2021 beginning here on January 14 at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here. Participating countries are: India, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh. Read: Premier Hockey: Abahani stay in race beating Mohammedan 4-2 India will play Korea in the opening match at 3:30 pm on Jan 14. Bangladesh will play Malaysia at 6; pm while Pakistan will play Japan at 8:30 pm in other two opening day’s fixture. The titans’ battle between India and Pakistan will be held on Jan 17 at pm 3:30 pm. Read: Premier Hockey: Mohammedan SC beat arch-rival Abahani Ltd 4-0 Bangladesh squad : Biplob Kujur, Abu Sayed Nippon, Ashim Gop (goal keeper), Khorshedur Rahman, Farhad Ahmed, Ashraful Islam, Shohanaur Rahman Sabuj, Mehdi Hasam, Rezaul Karim Babu, Monoj Babu, Shafiul Alam Shisir, Sarwar Morshad Shawon and Khaled Mahmud Rakin (defender), Sarwar Hossain, Roman Sarkar, Nayeemuddin, Fazle Hossain Rabbi, Hasan Jubair Niloy, Prince Lal Samanta (mid-field), Rasel Mahmud Jummy, Milan Hossain, Mainul Islam Kaushik, Arshad Hossain, Mahbub Hossain, Deen Islam Emon, Rakibul Hasan, Pushkar Kisha Mimo and Rajub Das.

The ICC has decided that significant alterations will be made to the format of Cricket World Cup events, which will be staged between 2024 and 2031. The revisions were finalized on Tuesday (June 1) at the ICC meeting. Decisions include the number of teams to compete in the 50-over and the T20 format World Cups, the format in which the tournaments will be contested, and the number of ICC Test Championships to be conducted during this period. The format of the World Cup events as well as other issues that were addressed during the meeting are discussed in this article.  ICC's decisions on Cricket World Cup formats, Test Championship The governing body of world cricket, ICC has finally agreed to raise the number of teams competing in World Cup competitions. Accordingly, 14 teams will compete in the ODI World Cups between 2024 and 2031. Similarly, the T20 World Cup will have 20 teams, which will be held every two years starting from 2024. Four world cups (2024, 2026, 2026, and 2030) will take place in this period.  Read: DPL T20 2021: Shakib Al Hasan Shines in First Round  Apart from that, the ICC made a number of other significant decisions during this meeting. The ODI Champions Trophy will be re-launched, while the Test Championship will be continued. The next two Champions League tournaments will take place in 2025 and 2029 respectively. This elite tournament will include the top eight teams in the ICC rankings. The format of the Champions Trophy will remain unchanged. The second season of the ICC Test championship will start after the upcoming final match of the first season. The final of the first season between India and New Zealand will be held from June 18 to 22 in Southampton, England. Like the inaugural season, the duration of each season is two years. That means the finals will be held in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031 respectively. Read: Top 5 Most Followed Athletes Across Social Media Platforms  The ODI World Cups in 2027 and 2031 will include a total of 54 matches. In addition, the format has been modified. Like the 2003 edition, the World Cup will be played in a Super Six round format. There will be two groups in the first round and seven teams in each group will fight against each other. Three teams will proceed to the Super Six or the second round from there.  On the other side, the T20 World Cup will include 55 matches in total and its format has also been modified. Four groups of 20 teams will compete against each other in the first round. There will be five teams in each group. Two teams will advance to the Super Eight or the second round from there. Read BCB reveals new schedule for Dhaka League Meanwhile, the fate of the upcoming T20 World Cup was also discussed at the ICC meeting. India will not be able to host the T20 World Cup in November-December window due to the outbreak of the pandemic coronavirus. So, the ICC is considering the UAE and any suitable country in the Middle East as an alternative venue. However, no final decision has yet been made in this regard.  Bottom Line The International Cricket Council is dedicated to organizing the Cricket World Cup events and the ICC Test Championship on a regular basis. The ICC aims to provide its associate member nations more opportunities to compete in the all formats World Cup in order to increase cricket's popularity. In addition to Test-playing nations, a significant number of associate members will compete in the world cups, which will be contested between 2024 and 2031. It is hoped that this would help to boost cricket's appeal across the world.  Read: Dhaka Premier Division T20 Cricket League 2021: Confirmed Fixtures