Champions Trophy 2025: Mohsin Naqvi Addresses Squad Criticism, Says Changes Can Still Be Made

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman said that the selection committee will review the Champions Trophy 2025 squad led by Mohammad Rizwan. He defended the selection of batter Khushdil Shah and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, which has been criticized. His statement came after Rizwan said that no changes were needed in the 15-member squad.

The teams that will be participating in the Champions Trophy 2025 have until February 12 to change their provisional squads for the tournament that will be held in Pakistan and Dubai. The PCB selectors faced criticism from former Pakistan cricketers for picking Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf in the squad, both of whom were out of form and had not played international cricket for a while.

"The selectors have the right to review any squad they announce. Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf were included with good intentions," Naqvi said in response to a question, as quoted by PTI.

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Khushdil Shah has not scored a single half-century in his 10 ODI matches and has been out of the national team since August 2022. Meanwhile, Faheem Ashraf has a batting average of 10 and a bowling average of 47 in 34 ODIs. According to PCB chairman Naqvi, he did not intervene in the selector's decisions, he stated "They chose what they thought was right for the team."

“Yes they are now reviewing the squad because they have time until February 12 to make changes if they want,” Naqvi said.

This isn’t like selectors haven’t changed a squad before; they did it before the 2021 T20 World Cup as well. The Champions Trophy 2025 is all set to start from February 19 with the opening match of Pakistan vs New Zealand. Out of the total 29 games, 12 will be played in Pakistan while matches featuring India and one of the semi-finals will be played in Dubai. The final will be played in Dubai if India reaches the final, otherwise the final will be played in Pakistan.

Pakistan Squad for Champions Trophy 2025

Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

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