Champions Trophy 2025: 49 pc expecting India to win, but only 17 pc know Pakistan is hosting

Enthusiasm was evident across various target groups and demographics among those interested. A total of 81 percent expressed excitement about the tournament, with men and women equally enthusiastic at 81 percent. Excitement levels were notably high among different socioeconomic categories, with SEC A at 89 percent, SEC B at 78 percent, and SEC C at 77 percent.

New Delhi: After India sealed the semifinals spot in the Champions Trophy, the Ipsos IndiaBus shows 59 per cent Indians are interested in the tournament, with 35 per cent uninterested and 6 per cent being neutral.

However, excitement was seen to be brimming across target groups and demographics, among those interested. 81 per cent claimed to be excited about the tournament, men and women equally at 81 per cent, while SEC A (89 pc), SEC B (78 pc) and SEC C (77 pc) showed high excitement levels.

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In fact 92 per cent of those in the metros were the most excited. Even across regions, there is an interesting mix of excitement, the west (83 pc), north (83 pc), east (79 pc) and south (77 pc) had the majority super excited about watching the tournament.

The 9th edition of the ICC Champions Trophy contested by the top eight ranked teams qualified from the 2023 Cricket World Cup are India, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Pakistan making up Group A while Group B has Australia, England, South Africa and Afghanistan and that is leading to all the excitement among cricket frenzy fans.

In fact, at least 66 per cent claimed to be excited about the participating teams and players. For 3 in 10 it was the format and schedule of the tournament leading to the excitement.

Which was further ratified by citizens with more choosing day-night matches (36 per cent), night matches (21 per cent) over day matches (14 per cent).

When asked about how bright the prospects were of India lifting the trophy, the views were a mixed bag with 49 per cent highly hopeful of India winning the coveted trophy, 31 per cent were circumspect, while 20 per cent were less hopeful of India taking away the trophy, the survey data shows.

Interestingly, awareness of the of host country for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was abysmally low. Only 17 per cent were aware of Pakistan hosting the tournament. 49 per cent wrongfully attributed the host nation to India and 28 per cent were undecided. Even England (4 per cent) and Australia (2 per cent) were wrongfully named as the host nation.

Cricket is a great binding factor among citizens across demographics, regions and social strata. After all, cricket is a religion in India, the sport with highest stickiness. World’s best teams playing in the ODI format is also a big draw among cricket lovers,” says Parijat Chakraborty, Group Service Line Leader, Public Affairs, Corporate Reputation, CSR and ESG, Ipsos India.

“Till about December 2024, India had not confirmed its participation and was insisting on a neutral venue. And the confirmation came almost 2 months before the kick off. Awareness building would have started much later. With sponsors being roped in and in tying up of loose ends. These could be some of the reasons for low awareness among citizens,” stated Chakraborty.

Ipsos IndiaBus is a monthly pan India omnibus (which also runs multiple client surveys), that uses a structured questionnaire and is conducted by Ipsos India on diverse topics among 2200+ respondents from SEC A, B and C households, covering adults of both genders from all four zones in the country.

The survey is conducted in metros, Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, providing a more robust and representative view of urban Indians. The respondents were polled face to face and online.

They have city-level quota for each demographic segments that ensure the waves are identical and no additional sampling error. The data is weighted by demographics and city-class population to arrive at national average.