Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has picked Pakistan’s probable playing XI for the 2025 Champions Trophy. He picked up Saud Shakeel, and not Babar Azam, to partner Fakhar Zaman at the top of the order as well. The 2025 Champions Trophy will take place in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 onwards.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “What will their predicted XI be like? I am thinking Saud Shakeel with Fakhar Zaman as Saim Ayub is not there now. Babar Azam at No. 3, Mohammad Rizwan at No. 4, and then Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed.”
ALSO READ: “I think Virat Kohli is the only option” – AB de Villiers backs Kohli as RCB captain for IPL 2025
“There will be a little extra focus on three players – Saud Shakeel because we will properly see him playing for the first time, Khushdil Shah because he is a proven all-rounder in T20s, he has a golden arm as well, but can he do that job in ODIs, and Abrar Ahmed as he is slightly underrated and not many people have seen him or played against him,” he shared again.
Aakash Chopra also added that Pakistan should reach the semi-finals of the 2025 Champions Trophy if they play to their ful potential as well. However, he stated that they would have to beat at least one of New Zealand and India to reach the knockouts as Bangladesh are unlikely to win a game here as well. He also added that Pakistan will look to play a lot of all-rounders, with their batting potentially revolving around Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the 2025 Champions Trophy as well.
“When you look at their team, it seems like they are searching for options. They want batting till No. 8 or No. 9 and a few spin-bowling all-rounders, with Faheem Ashraf also doing both jobs. They will want to revolve their entire batting around Babar and Rizwan. I am extremely interested to see how Saud Shakeel plays because he will get a place in the top three this time,” he said. “They are still reliant a lot on Babar Azam – 6000 ODI runs and the speed at which he has reached this far. Babar Azam’s performances and Pakistan’s wins are close-knitted to each other. He and Mohammad Rizwan are their batting mainstays,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
