Champions Trophy 2025: Will Australia Add Another ICC Trophy to Their Cabinet? In-Depth Australia Squad Analysis and Preview

The ICC Giants have won the 50-over World Cup six times and have also been successful in the ICC Champions Trophy, winning it twice in 2006 and 2009. India has also claimed victory twice, in 2002 and 2013. Australia is renowned for its consistency in these tournaments. As we look ahead to the Champions Trophy 2025, let’s take a closer look at Australia’s journey toward this year's trophy, including an analysis of their batting, bowling, and overall team performance.

Australia’s Road To Champions Trophy

Since winning the 2023 World Cup unexpectedly, Australia has played a series of matches, starting with the West Indies and continuing to Pakistan, all at home, along with one away series in Sri Lanka. In total, Australia has played 13 matches and won 7 of them. After their World Cup victory, their main goal was to transition the core team by incorporating younger players alongside experienced ones as they move into the next phase.

The beginning of this phase was smooth, as they defeated the West Indies 3-0, followed by a 3-2 victory over England. However, they faced an unexpected setback when they lost a series against Pakistan 1-2 and also recently lost their series against Sri Lanka 0-2. Despite trying out new superstars during these series, they made sure to rely on their established core players, including Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, and Marcus Stoinis.

Also Read: Champions Trophy 2025: New Zealand team analysis & rating

Unfortunately, this core was not available for half of the ODI matches they were scheduled to play, leading to disappointing results when those players were absent. Initially, Australia named their formidable core alongside a blend of youngsters for the Champions Trophy.

However, as time went on, their injury list grew to include captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, both of whom missed the tournament. Right after the Test series against Sri Lanka, ace pacer Mitchell Starc announced he would skip the Champions Trophy due to personal reasons, and Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement from ODIs to focus on T20 cricket.

These changes forced significant alterations in their squad, as they had to replace five players from their provisional team for the Champions Trophy.

Here is the Schedule for Australia in the Champions Trophy who is in Group B consists of England, South Africa, and Afghanistan 

Australia’s Squad for the Champions Trophy 2025

Alex Carey (wk), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Short, Steven Smith(Captain), Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson

Australia’s Probable Playing 11

Travis Head, Matthew Short, Marnus Labuschagne or Jake Fraser Mcgurk, Steve Smith(c), Jos Inglish(wk), Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshius, Adam Zampa

Australia’s Batting Analysis

Led by Steve Smith, Starting from the top order, the top four Australia has had a huge change from their last ODI World Cup opener, We have Matthew Short opening alongside Travis Head, Followed by Steve Smith at number 3 and Marnus Labushagne at number 4, The Top 4 has 2 problems to begin with from Matthew Short’s inexperience to Marnus Labuschange form concerns, the formidable players here will be Travis Head and Steve Smith.

When we Come down to the middle order and lower middle from Jos Inglish, Aaron Hardie to Glenn Maxwell and Sean Abbott. When we analyze here the struggle that Australia could get if top order fails would end up as a collapse except for Glenn Maxwell who comes in clutch whenever his team needs rest depending on their form, Jos Inglish is yet to become that dependable batter in the middle along with Aaron Hardie who can finish up matches the question here would be these guys have that temperament to handle the top order failure. 

On the whole, the trajectory of the whole team is out of their typical standards with Australia trusting these inexperienced players to do the job in the Tournament where all the matches are a must-win. The Hopeful of this team were none other than Travis Head, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell, and Jos Inglish who have to carry this batting order in Pakistan. 

Australia’s Bowling Analysis

From Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood, and Pat Cummins to Ben Dwarshius, Nathan Ellis, and Sean Abbott the first impression was pretty much evident that it was a big let down in their Bowling Unit. Australia would start with these pacers who could certainly tick the boxes in Pakistan up to some extent and will complement Adam Zampa the actual leader of this bowling unit in the Champions Trophy. Along with Aaron Hardie and Glenn Maxwell who could sneak in with their part-time attack, Australia has a decent attack on Paper.

Overall Rating 6.5/10

The 6.5 rating is purely for their proven history in this Tournament, Whoever they include in their team would certainly rise to save them as we saw them in the World Cup 2023 from a disappointing start to winning the World Cup only Australia could pull off stuff like that, So that could be the case in this year’s Champions Trophy though they look below par than usual on paper, On-field Australia could maximize any opportunity that comes in their way. Watch out for the Giants as they enter a new era in their Limited over Cricket.