Pakistan was knocked out of Champions Trophy 2025 after losses to New Zealand and India.
Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed has analyzed that lack of experience in the Green Shirts team was the main reason for their ouster from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 hosted by them. Pakistan lost to New Zealand and India in Group A and crashed out of the tournament.
Naturally, Pakistan still has one game left to play, against Bangladesh, who are likewise eliminated from the semi-finals. Given that it has been a rainy week in the city, the match in Rawalpindi on Thursday is also seriously threatened by rain and maybe a soggy outfield.
Aaqib talked extensively about the different combinations and permutations of selection that could have enhanced the team's performance in this tournament.
However, he pointed out that India's XI had a significantly larger body of work on their record than Pakistan's, obviously still in pain from Sunday's defeat to India.
"When Pakistan and India are playing, it's not only cricket - it's more than that. You need a lot of experience. This Indian team was the most experienced - they had almost 1500 games together. And Pakistan is on the bottom, with less than 400 games together.
If you look at players like Babar Azam, [he] is the only one who has played more than 100 games. Then there's Mohammad Rizwan [88 ODIs] and then Shaheen Afridi [64 ODIs]. The rest of them have less than 30 matches. Tayyab Tahir has played like eight games. Imam-ul-Haq [73 ODIs] was coming back to the team. The main thing is, when nothing works, and when you are talking about more than a game, then the experience counts. There is no doubt,” Javed was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
The loss of Fakhar Zaman after the first match due to injury played its part in Pakistan’s ill fortune. Pakistan also missed Saim Ayub, who had hit 235 runs and taken two wickets in Pakistan's 3-0 ODI series in South Africa in December.
"Similarly, we had to bring in Khushdil Shah because Saim was unfit. The reason is that in one-day cricket, you cannot go with five bowlers. You have to make a combination of seven batsmen and four bowlers.
When Saim was there, he used to bat at the top and he used to bowl five to seven overs. When he was not there - we saw that if you do a little research - even with the terrific performances that Khushdil Shah has given in one-and-a-half years of cricket, his wickets… there's no comparison. It was not even a close case or anything. But our job in the selection committee was to give the best replacement option,” Javed stated.
According to Aaqib, the great five—Babar, Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Afridi—had to step up in their place. However, these players never produced performances that won games. Since the team's exit, the five of them have drawn special criticism in Pakistan.
"A common person who doesn't play and is not part of the team management wants reasons and the names of people because of whom this team is losing. As far as Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris are concerned, our plan was to make the best possible XI or XV. There is no doubt that Shaheen, Naseem and Haris are excellent bowlers. If you compare them with the bowling attack of any team, they are one of the best fast-bowling options.
And if you look at Babar - apart from him, what other options do you have? We always say that if the team loses, change the team. This is the most inexperienced team already,” Javed concluded.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)