KARACHI: Pakistan have all it takes to win the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, the team’s interim head coach and selector Aaqib Javed has said.

Aaqib made the remarks following the side’s five-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the tri-nation One-day International series final here at the National Bank Stadium on Friday.

Batting first on a bowling friendly surface, Pakistan managed to score 242, a target which New Zealand chased down with reasonable ease after restricting Pakistan to a below par total thanks to a brilliant bowling show.

It was New Zealand’s victory in a row against Pakistan in the tri-nation series, the BlackCaps having beaten the hosts by 78-runs on batting paradise in Lahore.

Despite Pakistan’s record chase of 353 against South Africa in the last league match of the tri-nation series, their results against a much stronger New Zealand team exposed their prevailing weaknesses; mainly the lack of quality spinners.

Additionally, questions were raised over former skiller Babar Azam’s promotion as opener, affecting the whole batting line-up of the Mohammad Rizwan-led team.

Pakistan will open their Champions Trophy campaign on Wednesday against New Zealand only, before matches against India in Dubai and Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.

Losing even one match may derail Pakistan’s title defence, but Aaqib believed the side is completely prepared ahead of the eight-team tournament.

“This team will do great in the Champions Trophy,” Aaqib told reporters, defending the inclusions he has made in the Pakistan squad as the de facto chief of the national selection committee.

Pakistan have gone with only one specialist spinner in Abrar Ahmed and have chosen to rely on part-time spin-bowling all-rounders Khushdil Shah and Salman Ali Agha to make a difference through the crucial middle over.

Meanwhile, pace all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, who, like Khushdil, had been nowhere near reckoning over the past two years, is also someone Pakistan are putting their bets on.

Aaqib reasoned the picks saying Pakistan would need a deep batting line-up to be able to succeed in the given conditions, adding that the team had enough fire power in their bowling to be able to beat the best teams in the Champions Trophy.

“If the team bats well down till number eight, you can score 350,” he noted. “When Haris Rauf returns to fitness and form, along with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi and our spinners, this team would beat any other side.”

Thanks to Rizwan and Salman’s show against South Africa and their rescue effort against New Zealand in the final, the Pakistan middle-order seems to be in decent stead, but concerns remain over the top order.

As opener, Babar was able to score 62 runs across the three tri-nation series matches and Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shekeel, who were tried on Babar’s regular one-down position also failed to fire.

Aaqib believed that there was no real difference between playing as an opener and first-drop for Babar, given the batter had to bat in the early stages of the innings in any scenario.

“These pitches are not challenging for the batters at the start, so we wanted our best batter to make use of the powerplay, that suits us more.

“I think Babar should open in these conditions and I’m sure that he will perform well in the important matches.”

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2025