Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team defeated Mohammad Rizwan's Pakistan by 6 wickets in the ongoing edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which was being played at the Dubai International Stadium, on February 23 (Sunday). The Men in Blue are on top of the table in Group A with four points and a net run rate of +0.647. On the other hand, Pakistan are at the bottom of the table with elimination from the group stage itself looming over their head.
Gavaskar on Pakistan team
The legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar who has faced Pakistan's strong teams in the past, was disappointed by the current squad's performance. Gavaskar noted that if Imran Khan was the captain of the side, he would have beaten them with bat over these performances.
"Pakistan ke kaptaan Imran Khan agar kaptaan hote to sabki balle se pitaee laga dete (If Pakistan captain Imran Khan had been the skipper, he would have beaten everyone with his bat)," said Sunil Gavaskar in an exclusive conversation with Sports Tak.
"What he used to do was hit fours in between during such matches. But when the last overs came, he used to deal in sixes. As MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli do. At that time Javed Miandad used to do it. Such players are missing," said Gavaskar while talking about Pakistan great Javed Miandad.
Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub, two of Pakistan's most potent batters, were sidelined by injuries. After struggling to get going, Imam-ul-Haq, who took Fakhar's place, was run out for 10 off 26 balls. After Babar Azam went early despite attempting to be more proactive, captain Rizwan played a lacklustre knock of 46 from 77 deliveries, demonstrating little desire to apply pressure to the Indian bowlers.
Despite scoring 62 in 76, Saud Shakeel was unable to continue and complete the task. Khushdil Shah, on the other hand, fell for 36 off 39 after running out of partners in the final overs. None of the others had a strike rate of even 100, with the exception of their bowler Haris Rauf, who delivered a few significant blows in the closing stages.
