Champions Trophy hosts Pakistan needed a couple of weeks more than the other teams, to finally come up with their squad for the tournament. After all, they are the previous winners, and surely enough, want to assemble the best group of players, to deliver. But apart from a few obvious inclusions, there were a few names that were shockingly left out. InsideSport looks at the Pakistan Champions Trophy squad in detail, and rates the team.
Saim Ayub Injured, Big Blow to Pakistan
One of the biggest reasons for the delay in announcement of the squad was, PCB was waiting for an update on injured Saim Ayub’s fitness. The classy batter got injured during the South Africa Test, and will remain out for a month or so, still. “We understand how much he was looking forward to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and recognise how devastating it must be for him to miss a global event, especially when he is in such exceptional batting form,” Asad Shafiq, a member of the National Selection Committee told ICC.
But then, explosive batter Fakhar Zaman was picked. Although he averages 46 in ODIs, he had last played for Pakistan in the format in World Cup 2023. So adapting to the format will be a challenge for him.
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi In
On the other hand, Pakistan greats like Babar, Shaheen, Haris Rauf and Rizwan have found a place too. In fact, the latter will lead the side too, after Babar stepped down from limited-overs captaincy. With the presence of these seasoned players, the team will certainly draw some confidence. Surprisingly, only Babar, Rizwan and Fakhar are the three players, from the 2017 CT win.
The bowling, especially pace department looks sorted with the likes of Naseem Shah, Shaheen, Hasnanin and Haris Rauf. As for batting, a lot will depend on how senior pros Rizwan and Babar fare.
The Absentees
From the last South Africa series, apart from Saim Ayub, the team has let go Abdullah Shafique, Irfan Khan and Sufiyan Muqeem. Instead the likes of Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah and Saud Shakeel were preferred. So, that could be a bit of a worry for the team, as none of the three replacements are specialist ODI players.
Other than that, the team has only one frontline spinner in Abrar Ahmed, that is hard to fathom. The pitches in Pakistan and Dubai will assist the slower bowlers and PCB seems to have missed the trick there.
Pakistan Champions Trophy Squad – The Verdict
It seems that the selectors wanted to go pace heavy, and selected four pacers in the squad, leaving room for more spinners. The batting line up looks highly volatile with inexperienced batters, and the saving grace is only Rizwan and Babar. If the duo fail, their batting line up will fall like a pack of cards.
So, in short, it is a squad that will most likely not progress into the second round of the tournament. But as is always the case with every Pakistani team; they tend to throw surprises at you. All in all, it is 6/10 squad at best.
PAK squad: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
