Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to start from February 19 where hosts Pakistan will take New Zealand in the opener clash of the tournament in Karachi. Pakistan who will enter the tournament as defending champions will be featuring without their inform opener Saim Ayub and in the absence of star batter, former Pakistan captain Babar Azam will reportedly open the batting for the Mohammad Rizwan-led side.
However, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali gave a strange statement on Babar Azam saying that he will not be under pressure and also believes that his state statements could depend on his performance while opening the batting.
“Babar's place in the team will remain unaffected, irrespective of his performance in the Champions Trophy. I hope Babar performs. If he performs, he will say I played for Pakistan. If he doesn't perform, he will say I was forcefully made to open,” said Basit on his YouTube channel.
Babar has opened the batting in two ODIs where he scored 26 runs with a highest score of 22 and an average of 13. The former Pakistan captain has played 123 ODIs, scoring 5957 runs in 120 innings at an average of 56.73.
After facing New Zealand in the opener clash, Mohammad Rizwan-led Pakistan will travel to Dubai to feature in the high-voltage clash of the tournament against India which will take place on February 23.
Pakistan Champions Trophy 2025 squad: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Khushdil Shah, Salman Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah.