Pakistan’s humiliating performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has gotten former pacer Mohammad Amir to criticize the captaincy skills of Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan, who are hosting their first ICC event since 1996, failed to win a single match in Group A, losing to New Zealand in Karachi and to India in Dubai. Their final group match against Bangladesh was washed out and Pakistan finished with one point and no wins.
The India v Pakistan match turned out to be one-sided, with Virat Kohli leading the visitors to a comfortable victory. The former captain hit the match-winning four to reach his 51st ODI century and remained unbeaten as India won by 6 wickets.
The result was a virtual knockout blow to Pakistan, with Rizwan requiring further outcomes to go his way, and their elimination was quickly confirmed, a complete astonishment for the home crowd.
2009 T20 World Cup winner and 2017 Champions Trophy winner Mohammad Amir ruthlessly destroyed Rizwan's captaincy in his own unique, direct way. When Amir, who is known for being frank, was asked to compare Rizwan's captaincy to Babar Azam, he immediately broke down in tears.
“Rizwan (laughs)... You have come from a Ferrari to a rickshaw now (laughs again). At some point, I liked him because he captained in domestic cricket and also in PSL, he was successful there and his team would play in the final. But then suddenly if you see after 2-4 months, his decisions began to change.
I don’t know why or what happened as I haven’t shared the dressing room with him for 2-4 months. Why is he behaving this way, his decisions are coming across as strange,” Amir told Sports Tak.
“He was a daring captain at the start. It looked like he would change some things. But then suddenly in 2-4 months, you feel that he is very distant from cricketing knowledge. Everyone thinks that Ahmed (Shehzad) made videos, I gave interviews to the media, even Wasim (Akram) bhai, you name it. Everyone said that this squad is not fine, there are no genuine openers, and you should add spinners.
If the captain says he doesn’t have any power, that is a lie, he does have power. The way Rizwan was appointed as skipper, he could have made these decisions but he didn’t do it, I don’t know why,” he added.
Amir also went on to criticize Pakistan’s decision to call Imam-ul-Haq after Fakhar Zaman got injured and was ruled out for the entire tournament.
“They got a small opportunity when Fakhar Zaman got injured, they could have added an extra spinner. That is what I am saying, when you owe people favors and put the team behind, then problems arise. They had the chance and they had an opening in Usman and they didn’t need Imam-ul-Haq. They could have got an extra spinner, but they didn’t. They should be daring and take responsibility for such decisions,” he said.
Amir also had a cautionary warning for the Pakistan Cricket Board, and their management style in recent times.
“If the right decisions aren’t made, Pakistan cricket could go 20 years behind,” he exclaimed.
Pakistan looked out of sorts with the bat, as Babar Azam against New Zealand and Mohammad Rizwan against India, were slammed by experts and fans alike for their slow knocks.
