Follow UsFormer Pakistan captain Wasim Akram wants Babar Azam to open the innings in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The tournament last won by Pakistan in 2027, will be hosted by them this time around, starting February 19.
Mohammad Rizwan has been named the Pakistan captain for this global event and Akram feels that he can bat in the middle, giving Pakistan an option to open with a more attacking Fakhar Zaman alongside an anchor player Babar, who can build the innings.
"I would like to see Rizwan as a middle-order batter and maybe ask Babar to open the innings. Babar has a brilliant technique. If he plays 50 overs and scores a hundred, the batting will revolve around him,” Akram was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan website.
When it comes to numbers in ODIs, Babar has opened in just two innings and has an average of 13. Rizwan on the other hand has not opened even once in 50-over international cricket.
However, Babar’s best batting records are at number three where he has batted 105 times and scored 5416 runs at an unbelievable average of 60. For Rizwan, his best has come at number four, scoring 1923 runs in 44 innings at an average of 49.11.
Among players currently present in the Pakistan squad for the Champions Trophy 2025, Fakhar Zaman and Tayyab Tahir have scored the highest amount of runs in List-A cricket since January 2019.
Sharjeel Khan and Saim Ayub along with Haseebulla Khan complete the top five. But Ayub is out injured and Sharjeel is not in the scheme of things because of his fitness issues.
Pakistan Champions Trophy 2025 Squad
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.