Team India's road to Champions Trophy 2025 begins on Saturday as the Indian team is set to depart to Dubai later in the day. The Men in Blue will be playing all of their matches in UAE, wherein they will camp for four days before beginning their campaign against Bangladesh on 20 February. While Pakistan, the hosts of the tournament will play three practice matches, India have opted not to play any warm-up games and will take to the field directly against the Bangla Tigers. Following the fixture on the 20th, the Men in Blue will face arch-rivals Pakistan on 23 February, before ending their group stage on 2 March with a meeting against New Zealand. India enter first ICC tournament with any practice games Even though the schedule of the Indian team is jam-packed, they do play out at least a single warm-up fixture before ICC events. The Men in Blue played one practice game against Bangladesh in the last edition of the T20 World Cup. Before the 2023 ODI World Cup, both of India's warm-up matches were washed out, although they were scheduled to play against Netherlands and England. However, they opted not to take part in any warm-up fixtures before the Champions Trophy, having defeated England 3-0 in the ODI series. The Dubai International Stadium will host all of India's games including the semifinal and the final if Rohit Sharma's men go all the way. India have only played 9 ODIs since the 2023 World Cup final Since losing to Australia in a painful ODI World Cup final defeat at home in 2023, India have only played 9 ODIs. The Rohit Sharma-led unit has won five matches, losing three games and one match ended in a tie. The Men in Blue won the ODI series against South Africa in December 2023, 2-1, before Sri Lanka won the three-match ODI series last year 2-0. A 3-0 white-wash against England did restore the Indian dominance with Rohit Sharma scoring a century and Virat Kohli getting a fifty in the final match of the series.Original Article