Many saw a Champions Trophy disaster coming, but the extent of it was surprising.
The Champions Trophy 2025 Group A clash at the Dubai International Stadium between India and Pakistan went the usual route. India were not at their ruthless best, but Pakistan were worse than them in every department. Babar Azam failed to go past 30 and got out to a thick edge off a delivery outside off-stump. While his counterpart, Virat Kohli bossed a chase of 242 and hit the winning runs. He also brought up his 51st ODI hundred in the process.
The Pakistan public was not optimistic of their team’s chance going into the tie which was made very clear through all forms of media.
As Kohli and other Indian batters kept shovelling off the target with ease, Pakistani players’ stood with their shoulders slouched. Their expressions were growing grim with each passing moment. Even when Imam-Ul-Haq took a sensational catch to dismiss Shreyas Iyer, there was no celebration from anyone as the game was already out of their reach.
The defending champions are more or less out of contention for the semis barring a miracle in the final round of group matches. If they wish to bow out of the tournament on a positive note and do well in the upcoming series against New Zealand, Pakistan need several tweaks.
Pakistan had played two two-Test series against South Africa and West Indies ahead of the mega-event with a short Tri-Series against New Zealand and the Proteas. In South Africa, they were playing on bouncy pitches. They managed to go beyond 300 only once in four innings. There was a two-week window before they started playing West Indies at home. The pitches were specifically curated to be rank-turners. In desperation to gain results and be dominant at home, the Pakistan Cricket Board went above and beyond to make the surfaces brittle and puffy.
They were successful in the first Test against the Windies by bowling just one pacer who went wicketless and three frontline spinners – who got all the 20 wickets. They kept the same strategy for the second Test but West Indies spinners proved to be better. At least six players who played on those spin-heavy tracks made it to the Champions Trophy and Tri-Series squads. They were stacked with pacers and just a lone frontline spinner in Abrar Ahmed. The downtime between the Tri-Series and West Indies series was also two weeks, demanding half of the playing XI to play with a polar opposite strategy at similar venues. Competitive pitches across formats have only benefitted teams through eras and PCB must recognise that fact.
Pacer Hasan Ali had heaped praise on Babar Azam in multiple interviews explaining how everyone in the team calls him “King” or “Bobsy”. He also stated how the dressing room operates on “King Ye Masla Theek Kardega” (King will fix this situation) logic to every match-time crisis. It is a good thing to have full confidence in your star player, but putting him on a pedestal to solve all your problems is not.
Two months ago, they had swept South Africa 3-0 in ODIs on their own turf. The likes of Saim Ayub, Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, and Salman Agha stepped up with big knocks while Kamram Ghulam also chipped in with contributions. But in the Tri-Series, there were only two stand-out hundreds from Rizwan and Agha against South Africa that earned them a win. When they came up against a cohesive unit like New Zealand, they were beaten twice in the Tri-Series and the Champions Trophy opener. Babar will return to form sooner or later, but if Pakistan’s batting doesn’t find consistency, things will only get worse.
It might be too much to expect Pakistan to strategically groom players for certain roles in each format. But it’s necessary if they are to succeed in the next ICC ODI event i.e., the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa. There’s barely been a big tournament where Pakistan have been considered a genuine title contender rather than an unpredictable dark horse with many individual talents. They still have talented players who can win games single-handedly but they need utility players and other match-winners as well.
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They currently have one in Salman Agha who has been amassing runs and picking scalps across all conditions. They need more players like him. The likes of Kamram Ghulam and Mohammad Wasim are restricted to bit-part roles in ODIs. Ghulam is capable of adding valuable runs in the lower-middle order. Wasim is among the best pace-bowling options Pakistan have for the 50-over format. However, they went with someone like Faheem Ashraf who hadn’t played an ODI since the 2023 World Cup. These are among a few examples of players who have been ignored besides their usefulness to the team. It is high time that Pakistan drop the likes of Khushdil Shah, Ashraf, and Tayyab Tahir. They need to give a longer leash to others waiting in the wings.
Pakistan’s player-turned-pundits and the team management kept repeating the words “intent” and “process” in all departments ahead of the tournament. However, there was no visible intent within their capable bowling and batting departments who could’ve overcompensated for their consistently bumbling fielding.
In the matches against New Zealand and India, Pakistani players were seen encouraging their teammates only for a few overs after the adrenaline high of a wicket. But they largely remained silent or stood glaring at the ones who committed mistakes.
The “process” part might’ve applied to some other tournament where they had time to resurrect their campaign. But the Champions Trophy games come thick and fast. Compared to other teams, Pakistan had only two major injuries – that of openers Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman. But it was enough for their campaign to implode spectacularly.
The team needs a positive approach to their games akin to their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign where they reached the final contrary to everyone’s expectations. However, imbibing that us-versus-world attitude within every player is up to Captain Rizwan and the coaching staff.
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