The Pakistan Cricket Team is out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 after New Zealand (NZ) defeated Bangladesh (BAN) in Rawalpindi on February 24. They have failed to live up to the expectations of their fans as Pakistan lost two back-to-back games against New Zealand and India in the Group Stage. Now, Pakistan’s former legendary cricketer Javed Miandad questioned the Pakistan team’s ability and professionalism to perform at big stages.
Today, we will see what Javed Miandad said about the Pakistan Cricket Team and their body language during the India vs Pakistan game. We will also see what went wrong for Pakistan in CT 2025. Is this a failure of their system? So, let’s start.
Pakistan Cricket Team Out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Even before playing their last fixture against Bangladesh, the Pakistan Cricket Team was out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 (CT 2025). They lost the first two games against NZ and IND, and their only possible chance to qualify for the semifinal was to win against BAN (by a big margin) and then hope that BAN beats NZ (by a small margin) and IND beats NZ (by a big margin).
But as soon as NZ defeated BAN in the 6th game of the CT 2025 in Rawalpindi, PAK was knocked out of the tournament. Now it is official that Team India and New Zealand are the two teams from Group A, qualified for the CT 2025 semifinal. BAN and PAK have been eliminated from the tournament. The two teams will now play against each other on February 27 in Rawalpindi. It will be a dead rubber.
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Javed Miandad Questioned the Passion and Fire in the Pakistan Cricket Team
After the early exit of the Pakistan Cricket Team, the country’s former legendary cricketer Javed Miandad questioned the team’s passion and fire to perform at big stages. He said there is a lack of professionalism in the Pakistan Cricket Team to perform in big tournaments. Miandad, while sarcastically questioning, said ‘Does not the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) take care of their players? Or don’t they get paid enough by the board?
Javed Miandad on the Team’s Mentality
Miandad also criticized the mentality of the Pakistan Cricket Team. He said the truth is the players felt the pressure even before the match started.
“Have a look at the body language of the Pakistani players, no one seems to be in a mood to dominate and puts the Indian bowling line-up under pressure.” – Javed Miandad told PTI (via Hindustan Times) (QUOTED BY US).
What Went Wrong for the Pakistan Cricket Team in CT 2025?
Batting Line-up Failed to Make Big Partnerships
Pakistan’s batting line-up failed to make big partnerships in both games. While chasing a big target of 320 in the first game, the only big partnership they had was 58 runs for the 4th wicket between Babar Azam and Salman Agha.
In the 2nd game, PAK consolidated after the two quick wickets as Rizwan and Shakeel made a 100-run stand for the 3rd wicket. But, it was a partnership that came at a much slower rate than needed. And that was the only partnership PAK had against Team India. They continued to lose wickets after that and only managed to score just 241.
Lack of Intent in Batting
Pakistan’s intent while batting is a big question mark. There is a lot of criticism of Babar’s strike rate. Rizwan too played with a low strike rate and PAK failed to put the opposition bowlers under pressure.
Not Having a Proper 2nd Spinner in the XI
Pakistan Cricket Team only went with one frontline spinner, Abrar Ahmed in the playing XI. Nowadays, teams look for at least two wicket-taking spinners who can bowl in tandem during the middle phase of the inning. They don’t have a proper 2nd spinner, with Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, etc to do a part-time spin bowling job.
Fast-bowlers Not Too Effective for a Longer Duration
Gone are those days when we used to see Pakistan fast bowlers fear the opposition team. Still, they do have a decent fast-bowling unit, but they failed to make an impact for a longer duration. Their bowlers are good when it comes to T20 cricket, but we have seen that the opposition batters dominate them in their 2nd or 3rd spell, in the later part of the inning. It was evident in their first two games in the CT 2025.
Fielding has to be Improved
Pakistan’s fielding has been below par in this tournament. They have dropped way too many catches, and that didn’t help their bowlers’ confidence. Even in the India vs Pakistan game, they have dropped 3-4 catches.
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Pakistan Cricket Team Struggling in the Recent Past
Pakistan Cricket Team had a poor run in the last few months. Although they won an ODI series in South Africa (SA) and Australia (AUS), they struggled in a home Tri-Series against SA and NZ. They didn’t have a great ODI WC 2023 and T20 WC 2024.
In tests, they lost a home series against Bangladesh and also finished at the bottom of the ICC World Test Championship Cycle (2023-25).
Is this the failure of their system?
It’s a mix of both, the system’s failure and players not performing as per the expectations. We have already discussed this from the players’ front. Now, as far as the system’s failure is concerned, they don’t have stability in their system. Every now and then, there is a change in the administration, selection panel, and captaincy. We have also heard in the media reports that a few players are divided because of the captaincy.
Also, we have seen instability on the coaching front. Gary Kirsten has recently resigned from the Pakistan team’s coaching role. And there are many in the past as well. Having stability in the administration, selection panel, captaincy, and coaching staff is a must for every team.
PCB has to look into this matter as too much chopping and changing will not help the Pakistan Cricket Team.
What’s your opinion on this matter? And what do you think? Will the Pakistan Cricket Team make a comeback and be a force in world cricket again? Comment all your opinions below.
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