Champions Trophy 2025 qualification scenarios explained: International Cricket Council (ICC), last month, announced that the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023's league stage positions will determine the eight teams participating in Champions Trophy 2025. This means that two out of the current 10 teams in ODI World Cup 2023 tournament in India will miss out on playing Champions Trophy 2025, two years later. Six teams, including the semifinalists India, South Africa, and Australia, hosts Pakistan, and sixth-placed Afghanistan, have already secured their spots. The battle for the remaining two positions is between England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Netherlands.
As ODI World Cup 2023 still has four league games remaining, including the ongoing one between Australia and Bangladesh in Pune, Sri Lanka's fate hangs in the balance, while the other teams have a chance to secure their tickets for the Champions Trophy 2025.
Here are the qualification scenarios for England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Netherlands for Champions Trophy 2025:
England qualification scenarios for Champions Trophy 2025: Despite a convincing win against Netherlands, the two-time Champions Trophy runner-up are currently in the seventh spot. However, a win against Pakistan in their final league game in Kolkata will not be sufficient. England need both Bangladesh and Netherlands to lose their final matches. Even if England win, the margin of victory should not surpass England's net run rate (NRR). If England lose, they’d aim to stay above Sri Lanka in NRR and hope either Bangladesh or Netherlands lose their matches.
Bangladesh qualification scenarios for Champions Trophy 2025: Facing a tougher challenge than England, Bangladesh are below them on the points table due to a significantly worse NRR. In their final match against Australia, who have a six-match winning streak, Bangladesh need to pull off an improbable victory with a significant impact on their NRR to stay in the top eight. If they lose, Bangladesh must ensure the margin of loss doesn't place them below Sri Lanka in the points table while hoping Netherlands loses their last match.
Sri Lanka qualification scenarios for Champions Trophy 2025: Having completed their league games, the former Champions Trophy winners rely on fate for their qualification. Sri Lanka need two of England, Bangladesh, and Netherlands to lose by substantial margins to qualify based on NRR.
Netherlands qualification scenarios for Champions Trophy 2025: After a 160-run loss to England, Netherlands are at the bottom of the points table with a poor NRR. To make it to the Champions Trophy for the first time, they must achieve a daunting task—beat semifinal-bound India in Bengaluru on November 11 with an enormous margin of victory. Additionally, they rely on either Bangladesh or England suffering a significant loss to qualify through NRR.