Champions Trophy 2025: The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 started on 19 February, but Pakistan’s journey ended in just four days. After losing to India on 23 February, it was almost certain that the Pakistan cricket team would be out of the tournament. But on 24 February, New Zealand defeated Bangladesh and officially confirmed Pakistan’s exit. Although Pakistan still has to play one more match, it remains only a formality.
For the second time the tournament host had to be out in the first round
This is the second time in the history of the Champions Trophy that a host team has been eliminated in the first round. Earlier in 2009, when South Africa hosted the Champions Trophy, their team was also eliminated from the group stage. Now Pakistan has repeated the same history.
The 2017 champion team also failed to cross the group stage
Pakistan won the Champions Trophy title in 2017 under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed. After this, the ICC stopped this tournament and now it has returned after almost eight years. But this time Pakistan could not defend its title and was eliminated in the first round itself. This is not the first time that a defending champion has been eliminated from the group stage in the next tournament.
In 2002, India and Sri Lanka were joint winners, but in 2004 both the teams were eliminated in the first round.
Australia won the Champions Trophy in 2009, but in 2013 it was eliminated in the group stage itself.
Now Pakistan has also added its name to this list by getting eliminated in the first round in 2025 after becoming the champion in 2017.
Defeat against India and New Zealand ended Pakistan’s game
Pakistan was defeated by New Zealand in its first match and then the team had to face defeat against arch-rival India as well. After the defeat against India, Pakistan’s position had become precarious, but hopes were still alive against Bangladesh. However, New Zealand completely dashed Pakistan’s hopes by defeating Bangladesh.
Still one match to be played
Although both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been eliminated from this tournament, they still have one match left to play. This match will be played in Rawalpindi on 27 February.
Both teams have not opened their account yet and they are standing without any win in the tournament.
This match has become a mere formality, but it will be a battle of honour for both teams.
Whichever team wins this match will get two points and will be able to take a respectable farewell from the tournament.
Main reasons for Pakistan’s exit
There are many reasons behind this poor performance of Pakistan:
Weak batting lineup: Pakistan’s batting looked very weak in this tournament. Especially against India and New Zealand, the team failed to score big.
Poor performance of experienced players: Pakistan’s experienced players could not perform as per their name. Players like Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi did not appear in their form.
Lack of strategy: Strategic mistakes were clearly visible in Pakistan’s team management and captaincy. The team could not make the right combination and wrong decisions were taken at crucial moments of the game.
Lack of edge in fast bowling: Pakistan has always been known for its fast bowling, but this time their fast bowlers did not look very effective. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf failed to find their rhythm.
Team falling apart under pressure: Whenever there was pressure on the team, Pakistan performed poorly. The same was seen in the match against India, where Pakistan could have easily won the match, but got nervous and made mistakes
India and New Zealand in the race for semi-finals
With Pakistan and Bangladesh out, India and New Zealand have confirmed their place in the semi-finals from Group A. Both the teams played brilliantly and entered the last four by winning their respective matches.
What next for Pakistan now?
This defeat will be no less than a lesson for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the team management. Now the question arises:
Can there be big changes in the Pakistan team?
Will there be any change in the captaincy or not?
Will the Pakistan team be able to make a strong comeback in the next tournament?
Now it will be interesting to see what steps the Pakistan Cricket Board takes after this defeat and what will be the future of the team in the upcoming tournaments.
It was a disappointing journey for Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025. Despite being a strong team, they could not progress beyond the group stage. Now Pakistan cricket fans will hope that the team will learn from this defeat and perform better in the upcoming tournaments.
