‘India Look Clear Favourites’: Wasim Akram Exposes Pakistan With Sensational Claim Ahead Of Champions Trophy 2025

Defending champions Pakistan will leave no stone unturned when they open their Champions Trophy campaign against New Zealand in Karachi on February 19. Following their poor performance in the last two ICC events, the Men In Green will be determined to leave behind their past mistakes.

Pakistan have been clubbed alongside India, Bangladesh and New Zealand in Group A and could relatively have an easy way to the semifinals. They proved their ODI credentials by convincing wins over Australia and South Africa away from home. But their recent performance in the tri-series against South Africa and New Zealand posed some serious questions about their ability.

Wasim Akram took a dig at his country reiterating the facts that if Pakistan reach the Champions Trophy semifinal it would be a greater achievement.

In an interaction with the Hindustan Times, he said, ‘India look clear favourites; they deserve to play the final. But I can’t say the same about Pakistan. If they make the semi-final, I would consider it a big achievement.

‘Pakistan ki team aisi hai chal jaaye toh chand tak, warna shaam tak (Pakistan’s team is like, If it works, it will reach all heights, otherwise it will be gone in no time). Our team has many loopholes. The bowling is struggling. Spinners are not there. The openers are struggling. I don’t know what the selectors and the captain thought. Even our chairman gave his approval. Let’s see how things unfold. The rest of the teams look much more balanced.’

Pakistan also tried to tweak their playing XI as Babar Azam has opened the innings in a few matches to cope with the absence of Saim Ayub who has been ruled out of the competition with an ankle fracture. Inconsistency has been Pakistan’s biggest problem and their unpredictable nature in ICC events has often hurt themselves badly.