Melbourne: Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has tipped Pakistan as a strong contender for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final, citing their recent strong performances in One-Day International cricket.

In an interview with Sanjana Ganesan and Ravi Shastri on The ICC Review, Ponting acknowledged that while India and Australia remain the clear favourites for the trophy, Pakistan is a team to watch out for in the upcoming tournament.

“Pakistan has been playing some really good cricket lately,” Ponting said. “Their one-day cricket has been outstanding, and they seem to have worked through their previous inconsistencies. While they’re not always the most predictable team in big tournaments, they appear to have sorted things out a bit.”

Pakistan enters the 2025 Champions Trophy on the back of impressive victories in recent ODI series, including a 2-1 win over Australia and a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa. Under the leadership of Mohammad Rizwan, the team has shown a remarkable turnaround after the 2023 Cricket World Cup, where they defeated both Australia and Zimbabwe in ODI series. Ponting noted these successes as evidence of Pakistan’s growing strength ahead of the tournament.