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The Champions Trophy is all set to return after eight long years, and, historically, it’s been a competition where younger and relatively inexperienced players have announced themselves to the world with head-turning, breakthrough performances.
From Wayne Parnell and Saeed Ajmal in 2009, to Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in 2013, to Fakhar Zaman and Hardik Pandya in 2017, we’ve had a plethora of notable names leave an indelible mark through this competition.
Along the same lines, we look at five such relatively newer players who could make a serious name for themselves in this forthcoming Champions Trophy.
At 23, he has already played all three formats for Afghanistan and has also represented MI Cape Town in the SA20. That’s right, Sediqullah Atal has emerged as one of the brightest batting talents from Afghanistan, and the youngster could end up making a serious name for himself in the forthcoming Champions Trophy.
A left-handed top-order batter, Atal was the star of the Emerging Asia Cup in 2024, where he hammered 368 runs at an average of 122.6 to power Afghanistan ‘A’ to the title. He made his ODI debut after that and smashed his maiden ton in just his fourth ODI. He then followed that up with a 52 (50) in the very next game.
Less than 24 hours, Atal hammered New Zealand in the warm-up encounter in Karachi, blasting 52 off 42 balls.
This 23-year-old could make a serious impact batting at No.3 for the Afghans.
Having been around the Australian set-up for over a year now, the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 could prove to be the competition where Aaron Hardie finally makes a serious mark.
A middle-order batter who can do serious damage with the ball through his seam bowling, Hardie, in the absence of Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh, will be Australia’s premier seam-bowling all-rounder in the mega event.
He played in the recently concluded two-match ODI series against Sri Lanka and impressed with his seam bowling, taking three wickets. In the first ODI in Colombo, he registered figures of 6-0-13-2.
He’s not yet played to his potential with the bat in hand in international cricket but has shown glimpses, such as the 32 (37) in the first ODI against Sri Lanka and the 44 (26) batting at No.8 against England in Chester-le-Street last year.
Should things fall in place, Hardie could end up having a breakthrough campaign in CT 2025.
At 28 years of age, Ryan Rickelton is no longer a ‘youngster’. But having only played 6 ODIs to date, he is still relatively inexperienced in 50-over cricket.
Despite this inexperience, Rickelton being in the form of his life is what’s made him one of the players to watch out for in the mega event.
The left-hander is coming off an extraordinary title-winning SA20 campaign for MI Cape Town, where he hammered 336 runs at a strike rate of 178.72. There, Rickelton opened the batting for MICT and absolutely brutalised the bowlers against the new ball. He will be expected to do a similar role for the Proteas come CT 2025, opening the batting alongside an accumulator in Temba Bavuma.
But here’s the catch: Rickelton can make bigggggg runs too, evident by the marathon 259 he hit in the Test series against Pakistan last month.
CT 2025 could just end up launching South Africa’s next batting superstar.
Harshit Rana was not in India’s initial Champions Trophy squad but it now looks like he’ll be a certain starter come the big event. Roped in as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement, Rana played all three ODIs against England earlier this month and made quite the impression, scalping six wickets in total.
What makes Rana a serious threat in 50-over cricket is his ability to produce wickets out of nothing with the older ball. In the three ODIs against England, Rana picked as many as four wickets in the 11-40 phase. And he got the wickets of some big names such as Harry Brook, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone.
With the wickets expected to be flat, India will need their bowlers to ‘force mistakes’ from the batters, and that’s where someone like Rana could come in very handy.
And oh, he can tonk a few with the bat too, so that could prove decisive in close encounters.
One player from Bangladesh who has quietly seen his stocks rise in the last year or so is Jaker Ali. The 26-year-old will enter the Champions Trophy with just 5 ODIs under his belt, but he has a terrific record, having averaged 50.33 and having struck at 111.85.
Jaker, who dons the role of a finisher for the Tigers, recently put up a terrific showing with the bat in a three-match ODI series against West Indies, where he amassed 113 runs at a strike rate of 106. His unbeaten 62 in the third ODI helped Bangladesh post 321, but the Tigers were overpowered by a sublime ton from Amir Jangoo.
Either way, considering the power he possesses, this big-hitting right-hander could prove to be the x-factor for the Tigers in the forthcoming Champions Trophy.
