The first ICC event in 29 years on Pakistani soil is heading towards one of the meekest title defences in recent history. Where do Pakistan go from here?
This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. The 2025 Champions Trophy was the first major tournament in Pakistan since the 1996 men's World Cup – which they co-hosted, with India and Sri Lanka.
It should have been a time for celebration. Realistically, it didn't even have to entail Pakistan lifting the trophy: most of their fans wouldn't have been living under the delusion that their team were, in any way, favourites for the competition.
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They still were defending champions of this trophy, though, but just two games into their campaign, one would be hard-pressed to find a meeker defence of a major title. Of course, there were issues with this tournament from the off – some of the sheen of Pakistan's hosting was taken off when the BCCI (inevitably) announced that their players would not travel to the country, and so one venue was set aside in the UAE just for India.
It did leave a sour taste in the mouth when Pakistan had to travel to Dubai to play what would have been an electric clash in their own country. But by the end of it, they might well have been thankful that it wasn't on home soil that their faithful supporters were subject to what was an abject, virtual surrender of their crown.
It has been a strange time in Pakistani cricket of late. Even as their Test side has hit upon a winning formula, the limited-overs team has seemingly unravelled at breakneck speed, under the same management.
When Saim Ayub suffered a freak injury in South Africa, it was clear his absence would be a big blow for the team. The Champions Trophy would have been his first major global event, and presented a chance for Pakistan to really make a charge for the semi-finals, on the back of the precocious talent he had shown in Australia and South Africa.
Watch: Abrar Ahmed bowls Shubman Gill with beauty, celebrates with folded-arms stare-down
Ayub gave Pakistan an explosiveness at the top that had been missing for a while, and complemented the more conservative approaches of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan well. He also helped on the bowling front, with the ability to slide in his spinners for five overs or so on a consistent basis. But even after he was out, it should have been more or less plug-and-play for them with Fakhar Zaman, from a batting point of view.
In both Champions Trophy games, Pakistan have gotten stuck with the bat, in different ways. Against New Zealand, they were hamstrung by Fakhar's own injury, but the utter inability of the top three to get started at all meant their pursuit of 321 was all but up in smoke by the time they crawled to 22-2 in the Powerplay.
They took a step towards rectifying that in Dubai – making hay off some less-than-perfect Indian bowling in the first 10 overs, on what would be a sluggish surface. Even as the scoring rate dipped through the middle, it seemed as though Pakistan had a plan; get through to the last 10 with wickets intact, and then go after the bowling.
Match 5, Pakistan vs India
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- Ball by ball Over
But then Rizwan departed after a hoick, Saud Shakeel went the very next over for an ill-advised uppish pull shot, and all of a sudden two new batters had to start on that Dubai track. Tayyab Tahir got a magic ball from Ravindra Jadeja, and Salman Ali Agha left them six down in the 43rd over after slicing one straight up in the air. Pakistan had plugged one hole, but another in their sinking ship had popped up.
By the time they put up 241, the game seemed all but over against this Indian team – not to mention that they effectively had just four bowlers, with Khushdil Shah and Salman between them perhaps making that up to 4.5.
The squad Pakistan picked had just one opener, and just one specialist spinner. Their issues with scoring rates, especially on good surfaces, have been prominent for a good while now and their much-vaunted pace trio of Shaheen-Naseem-Rauf has been far too inconsistent to be depended upon day in, day out, particularly in Asian conditions.
Unpredictability is often synonymous with Pakistan cricket, but perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this Champions Trophy campaign has been the utter predictability of it all.
Where do Pakistan go from here?
It's a tricky question. They have been handed a wake-up call midway between two ODI World Cups, meaning there is still time for them to build towards the next major ODI tournament. But the knee-jerk nature of the recent past does not inspire confidence.
Of the 12 ODIs Pakistan played between the last World Cup and the Champions Trophy, Kamran Ghulam, Abdullah Shafique and Irfan Khan Niazi played 10, 9 and 8 matches respectively only for the latter two to be left out of the squad, and the former consigned to the bench as Tayyab Tahir took his spot.
Watch: Hardik Pandya waves 'bye bye' to Babar Azam after nick off for low score
This, along with recalls for Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah and Imam-ul-Haq after Fakhar Zaman's injury have betrayed the selectors' lack of appetite to back the more promising players in their setup – the likes of Sufiyan Muqeem, Aamer Jamal and Faisal Akram also all set aside as the approaching of a global tournament seemed to dictate that only those with experience be picked.
Pakistan's alarm is ringing, for the umpteenth time. It's time for them to stop hitting the snooze button.
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