With a little more than a week left, this year’s Champions trophy 2025 promises to be an electrifying event. This is the first time Pakistan is going to host the event with the United Arab Emirates hosting India’s matches. This is going to be the 9th edition of the Champions Trophy, with the first one being played in 1998.
There are going to be a lot of big names playing in this Tournament, but the following are the players we think would score a lot of runs and will be in contention to be the leading run scorers of this tournament.
1. Travis Head
Let’s start with the destructive left-hander from Australia. Travis Head has been in the form of his life for the last couple of years and will be looking to leave his mark in the champions trophy. He has scored a ton of runs in all formats. In the 2024 t20 World Cup, he was the 3rd most leading run-scorer. Before that, he had a great 50-over World Cup in 2023. The thing that makes Travis Head’s numbers more remarkable is his temperament in the big matches. Be it the World Cup final or the WTC final, the head loves to score on the biggest occasions. The pitches here in Pakistan will suit him to the tee too, so expect Travis head to score a lot of runs at a healthy strike rate too
2. Babar Azam
The leading run-scorer of the 2021 T20 World Cup, hasn’t been in his fluent form. Still, you can’t rule Babar Azam out of the picture yet. With the tournament being held in Pakistan, Babar will have the added advantage of knowing these grounds better than anyone else. Babar’s recent form hasn’t been too good, with 2024 being the only year where he didn’t score a century, but there were some positive signs in the last 2 tours of Australia and South Africa, especially in South Africa, where he scored 2 consecutive half-centuries.
3. Virat Kohli
Another big player against whom you can’t bet against. Babar Virat hasn’t been in good form for the last year or so, but if there is any player who gets his mojo back before an ICC tournament, it’s Virat Kohli. Virat was going through the same lump in form before the 2023 ODI World Cup too before he turned it around with a performance of a lifetime when he scored 765 runs the highest run tally of any player in a single World Cup and in the process won the player of the Tournament award too. This time even more pressure would be on Kohli as this Champions Trophy 2025 could be his last ODI tournament, but as history has told us the more pressure you put on Virat the better he plays.
4. Rahmanullah Gurbaz
One of the brightest young talents around the World Rahmanullah Gurbaz can light up this Champions trophy. The 23-year-old Afghan batter has already shown his capabilities to the world in last year’s T20 World Cup. Where he was the tournament’s leading run-getter. This time around, the pitches are going to suit him too in Pakistan, where the ball will come good on the bat. A lot of Afghanistan’s hopes will be on this young batting maestro to come good and help Afghanistan reach the knockout stages in their first ICC Champions trophy.
Also read: The Rise and Rise of the Afghanistan Cricket Team
5. Fakhar Zaman
Fakhar is back in the Tournament, which introduced him to the world, and what better way to make it a memorable one than being the leading run scorer in that tournament? The Southpaw wasn’t on the team for the last 15 months through various injuries and controversies, but he came with a bang. His 84 runs in the tri-series opener, where all the other batsmen were struggling again, showed why Fakhar is hailed as one of the best white ball players currently. With Saim injured a lot of Pakistan’s hopes will now lie on Fakhar to come good like the last time. Can Fakhar come good? Only time will tell, but if Pakistan has to do good, then Fakhar has to deliver.
Here is the schedule of the Champions Trophy 2025:
