The former Cricketer Basit Ali has blasted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for delaying the announcement of the squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025.
Pakistan is the official host of the Champions Trophy 2025 and is the only team among the eight that is yet to announce the squad for the second-most prestigious tournament in the ODI format.
With ICC‘s deadline to name a provisional squad was January 12, five weeks before the start of the tournament, some teams including India took more time to announce their squad, but with less than a month to go for the first match of the Champions Trophy.
Notably all teams can make changes to their squad by February 11, so Pakistan still have time to name their final squad.
But there has been delay and no official words from the PCB or the selectors yet. Cricketer Basit Ali believes it has to do with Saim Ayub’s fitness update.
“Pakistan kya darr gaya jo abhi tak team announce nahi ki? Nahi dara nahi hai. Samajh nahi aa rahi hai — karein to kya karein? (Is Pakistan scared to announce their squad? No, it isn’t, just unsure what to do and what not),” said Basit in a video on his YouTube channel.
“The biggest issue is Saim Ayub, whether he can return fit or not. It’s still not clear.”
Saim Ayub had an impressive start to his international career scoring 515 runs in just 9 ODIs including two centuries in South Africa. He has been currently battling an ankle injury which has put a serious doubt on his Champions Trophy participation.
Basit said Pakistan’s underperforming middle-order is the reason why they want to make sure their top-order is at full strength and without Ayub at the top order that seems difficult.
As per Pakistan’s Champions Trophy schedule, the hosts will begin their campaign with playing their first match against New Zealand on February 19 at National Stadium Karachi.
