Former Indian cricketer slams Pakistan's lack of intent, bench strength

Former Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has criticized the Pakistan cricket team for their poor performance in the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025. The defending champions were eliminated in the group stage and failed to retain their title.

In a recent interview, Gavaskar expressed his doubts about Pakistan’s current squad, suggesting that even India’s second-string team would pose a serious challenge against them. 

"I think even India’s B team would give Pakistan a tough challenge. It would be very hard for Pakistan’s current team to beat them," he said.

Gavaskar also pointed out the lack of urgency from Pakistan's batters during their matches. He mentioned Mohammad Rizwan’s early boundary and hoped for a change in approach. 

"Mohammad Rizwan hit the first ball of his innings for a four, and I thought we were in for something different. However, the batters soon started blocking deliveries instead of rotating the strike. The Indian spinners completed their overs quickly, and it was surprising that Pakistan’s batters didn’t showed any urgency," he added.

The former cricketer further criticized Pakistan’s inability to develop bench strength over the years. 

"Pakistan has talented players, but they haven’t been able to build a strong backup. It’s surprising that they have struggled to produce batters like Inzamam-ul-Haq. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is being played domestically, yet it hasn’t yielded enough top-quality batters," Gavaskar said.

He compared Pakistan’s domestic structure with India’s, where players get valuable experience through the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Ranji Trophy before being selected for the national team. 

"On the other hand, India benefits from the IPL, where players gain experience through domestic cricket like the Ranji Trophy before representing the national team. Pakistan needs to reflect on this and figure out why their bench strength isn’t as strong as it once was," Gavaskar concluded.

Pakistan, who are the tournament hosts and defending champions, were the first team, along with Bangladesh, to be officially knocked out of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, which runs until March 9. 

The Green Shirts, who won the title in 2017 under Sarfaraz Ahmed’s leadership, started their campaign with a loss to New Zealand. Pakistan had previously lost to New Zealand twice in a recent tri-nation ODI series involving South Africa.

After their opening defeat to the Kiwis, Pakistan suffered a second consecutive loss to India. In this match, Virat Kohli led India with an unbeaten century (100*), guiding India to successfully chase Pakistan’s total of 241 runs in Dubai.