Pakistan cricket team ended the Champions Trophy on yet another low, as they were kicked out of the tournament early, with now wins under their name. Firstly, they lost by 60 runs to New Zealand, followed by another one against India by six wickets. Their last match vs Bangladesh was washed out without a delivery being bowled.
While there is no harm in losing, the fashion in which Mohammad Rizwan‘s team was ousted — was rather embarrassing. As predicted by many experts, they just did not put up a fight against any team, in batting or in bowling. Once again, their touted best player, Babar Azam was ineffective, and was criticised by all. Most importantly, the team only offered excuses after the end of their campaign. Now, InsideSport rates all their players, one-by-one, as per their performance in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Mohammad Rizwan & Babar Azam 2/10
All the blame has to go to these two gentlemen. They are the senior-most players in the team, and there was certainly missing effective leadership from the two. Rizwan as skipper was shoddy with his decisions on the field and with bat.. scored 3 from 14 vs NZ, and 46 from 77 vs India. His strike-rate was a big issue in the two matches. In short, he failed to inspire his team, and couldn’t put a full-stop to all the negativity in the team.
As for Babar Azam, he was equally mediocre. At the top of the order, he scored 23 vs India, and 64 from 90 vs NZ. Scoring boundaries was difficult for him, and it seemed, as usual he lacked a plan. Both deserve to be sacked from the team, but as is the case with top players, that would never happen.
Imam-Ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman 0.5/10
The less said, the better, about Imam and Fakhar. Both came as injury replacements to Saim Ayub, and both failed. In fact, Fakhar also got injured in the NZ clash. The southpaw dasher, Fakhar scored 24 from 41 against the Kiwis, but was ineffective. Imam, the second replacement looked under-prepared. Against India, was run out for 10 from 26 deliveries.
Salman Agha Average, Khushdil Shah Best Among Under-achievers
For starters, not much was expected out of the trio. Salman Agha was the vice captain of the team, but did not get the best performances. Against New Zealand though, he showed a lot of intent, and scored 42 from 28. He gets 4/10. Khushdil scored 38 from 39 vs India, and also picked up a wicket. Against New Zealand he scored 69 from 49. So, he gets 6/10, and is Pakistan’s best performer.
0.5/10 For Tayyab Tahir
Tayyab Tahir returned with scores of 1 and 4 in the two matches. There isn’t much to discuss about him. A 0.5/10 for him. Also in the list are the likes of Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan, Kamran Ghulam, and Faheem Ashraf, who did not play a single match. So, scoring them is useless.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah & Haris Rauf Fail as Pace Unit
Shaheen Shah Afridi as the leader of the pace attack was bad. He leaked 68 runs against NZ and 74 vs IND. Just two wickets to his name means, he gets 3/10. Naseem Shah was no better. In the first match he had figures of 2/63 and in the second, 0/37.. so he gets 3.5/10. Haris Rauf the speedster gave away runs in heaps. 2/83 in NZ match and 0/52 vs IND gets him 2/10.
Abrar Ahmed Only Saving Grace, Gets 6/10
Why is he one of the best performers for Pakistan in this CT 2025, one might ask? Reason being, despite picking only two wickets, he did trouble the Kiwi batters, and managed to contain the runs. Against India, when Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli were going great guns, he only ended up giving 28 runs in the quota of 10 overs.
PCB, Selection Panel, Coaches and Team Management – 0/10
They all get 0 for just about everything. There was confusion in the team throughout. The PCB failed to provide a good environment in the team. The selection panel named a replacement in Fakhar Zaman, who too got injured. They picked Faheem Ashraf in the team who has poor record in ODIs. Aaqib Javed’s coaching could not help the team.
To top it all, the team management did not play players like Kamran Ghulam — who has a healthy strike-rate of 99 in ODIs, and also Usman Khan, who averages 75 in List A matches, with a strike-rate of 117.
Pakistan Squad: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan, Faheem Ashraf
