Almost a month remains for Pakistan’s first mega-event hosting. The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will kick off from February 19 till March 9 across Pakistan and the UAE. However, the national team’s squad has yet to be announced. What will Pakistan’s Probable CT2025 Squad be for the home event?
Pakistan is the only two teams yet to announce their final 15. The rest of the teams have announced their final 15-member squads, with England being the first to do so. India were the seventh and the latest team to announce their best side for the mega-event.
Read More: Pat Cummins – The Genius Behind Australia’s Success
PCB Submitted Pakistan’s Probable CT2025 Squad to ICC; says Reports
January 12 was supposed to be the final date to reveal their provisional squads and they can make changes before February 10. According to the reports, the PCB’s selection committee submitted the preliminary squad to the ICC on January 12 while not willing to reveal which members will participate in the tournament.
However, the reports stated that 19 members were given to the ICC in their provisional squad, including the injured Saim Ayub, who is currently in London for treatment after picking up an injury against South Africa in the Cape Town Test earlier this month.
The following is the 19-man squad list sent to the ICC by the Pakistan Cricket Board:
Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Tayyab Tahir, Irfan Khan Niazi, Sufyan Maqeem, Mohammad Hasnain, Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah, Usman Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha, Saim Ayub, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Haseebullah, and Abbas Afridi
The first fifteen names in the list have all participated in the Australia and South Africa tours, in which Pakistan had a fruitful success. The last four names have been added. Two of them, Fakhar Zaman and Imam ul-Haq, have been added as a replacement for Saim should he fail to recover from his knee injury. Fakhar is most likely to make the cut due to his aggressive batting style.
The four players who could be overlooked for the selection are opener Imam ul-Haq, bowler Abbas Afridi, and top-order batters Usman Khan and Haseebullah.
Possible Playing XI:
Should PCB pick the selected squad as mentioned above, the possible XI will likely be as follows;
- Fakhar Zaman
- Abdullah Shafique
- Babar Azam
- Muhammad Rizwan (Capt, WK)
- Kamran Ghulam
- Irfan Khan Niazi
- Salman Ali Agha
- Shaheen Afridi
- Abrar Ahmed
- Naseem Shah
- Haris Rauf
Pakistan will play against New Zealand in the tournament opener in Rawalpindi. They will face India in Dubai on February 23 before playing their last group game against Bangladesh on February 27.
Pakistan is also the defending champion, having beaten India by a record margin in the 2017 edition’s final.
Read More:
