Rizwan & Co. announce 15-man squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Pakistan finally announced their 15-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The tournament kicked off on 19 February 2025. Mohammad Rizwan will captain the Pakistani team and this will be his first ICC tournament as captain. Babar Azam resigned from captaincy after being eliminated in the group stage of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Pakistan are the defending champions of the Champions Trophy. They won the last ICC Champions Trophy tournament in 2017. In the 2017 final, Pakistan defeated the Indian team by 180 runs.

This will be the first 50-over tournament after the 2023 World Cup. The tournament hosts were kept in group A along with India, Bangladesh & New Zealand. Pakistan will begin their campaign against New Zealand in Karachi on 19 February. Next, they will play against India in Dubai on 23 February, while Pakistan will face Bangladesh in their last group match in Rawalpindi on 27 February. The top 2 teams will qualify for the semi-finals in each group which will be held in Dubai & Lahore Respectively on 4 & 5 March.

Veteran opener Fakhar Zaman has rejoined the team while Saim Ayub has been ruled out due to his injury which he sustained against South Africa. Fakhar Zaman can be seen opening with either Babar Azam or Saud Shakeel as their star batsman Abdullah Shafique has also been ruled out due to injury. As per the pitch report and team combination, the opening pair will be decided in the upcoming matches. The same team will play the tri-series before the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy against South Africa and New Zealand. Aqib Javed will continue in the position of interim head coach for Pakistan in the upcoming ICC matches as well as the tri-series. 

Pakistan 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