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Despite Rizwan’s admission that his team’s campaign is over, the Pakistani team is still alive in the race to qualify for the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinals.
India beat Pakistan by 6 wickets in Champions Trophy 2025 match played in Dubai on February 23. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Pakistan’s men’s cricket team captain, Mohammad Rizwan, on Sunday, February 23, accepted that the Men in Green’s Champions Trophy title defence has come to an end after they went down by six wickets against India in Match No. 5 of the Champions Trophy 2025 played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In the must-win match for the hosts of the ongoing ninth edition of the Champions Trophy, Rizwan won the toss and opted to bat first, but his decision backfired as the Pakistani team could only manage to score 241 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in 49.4 overs.
Saud Shakeel top-scored (62) for the defending champions, and Rizwan scored 46 runs from 77 balls. The target of 242 runs was convincingly chased down by Team India in 42.3 overs for the loss of four wickets.
READ MORE: How Pakistan can qualify for Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal after losing match against India
After batting superstar Virat Kohli scored his 51st ODI century (100 runs from 111 balls) to seal India’s memorable win, Rizwan conceded that his team’s campaign in the Champions Trophy has ended.
“For now, we can say that it’s over. This is the truth,” the Pakistan captain said.
Despite Rizwan’s admission, the Pakistani team is still alive in the semifinal race. If Bangladesh beat New Zealand on Monday, Pakistan beat Bangladesh by a big margin on Thursday, and India beat New Zealand by a big margin on Sunday, then Pakistan can still finish in the top two and qualify for the knockouts from Group A.
According to Rizwan, who was appointed as Pakistan’s ODI captain in October 2024, he does not like progressing through the back door.
“As a captain, I honestly don’t like this. If you can win, then do it. If you can’t, then don’t worry about it. I don’t care if you are sitting in someone else’s shadow. I don’t care if you are outside the tournament or in it. Yes, New Zealand has defeated us; India has defeated us. We accept it. We can play well; we can play badly. We can’t say that we should stay on someone else’s side. Allah has made this a chance; we can’t say anything about it,” Rizwan was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“In the next match, we’ll see what Bangladesh does with New Zealand, what New Zealand does with India, and what we do. It’s a long journey. Yes, we have hope and believe in Allah. Our dependence on the Champions Trophy has now come on other teams,” he added.
Rizwan was asked about Pakistan’s decision to pick only one spinner—Abrar Ahmed—for the Champions Trophy, and he defended the team selection by saying, “You can’t say that we made a mistake by picking just one spinner. If you look at that Indian team also, they have Kuldeep (Yadav) as the front-line spinner. (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar Patel are all-rounders. We also have Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah. They bowled very well in the past.”
The right-handed wicketkeeper-batter accepted that his teammates failed to fire with the bat in the must-win match.
“The middle order was not good enough. Yesterday in our meeting we had discussed that on this pitch 270-280 runs would be enough. Because the outfield was slow and the pitch was slow. If we had scored 280, maybe the results would be different,” Rizwan said.
“Me (46) and Saud Shakeel (62) tried to build a partnership and took a lot of time. But after that, the shot selection was poor, and that’s where they got a chance to take our wickets. After that, our middle order couldn’t take the pressure, and we couldn’t manage,” he added.
For more in-depth coverage of the Champions Trophy, check out the latest Points Table to see where your favorite team stands. Stay updated on the tournament’s top performers with the Most Runs and Most Wickets leaderboards. Keep following for all the latest updates!
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
