Pakistan’s Champions Trophy meltdown follows the usual pattern

Titleholders and hosts Pakistan have managed to crash out of the Champions Trophy 2025 in spectacular fashion failing to make it past the group stage after dismal defeats to New Zealand and archrivals India Though they still have a dead rubber against Bangladesh on Thursday their tournament is effectively over a fittingly underwhelming conclusion to their first time hosting a major international event in three decadesPakistan skipper Rizwan believes that Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah are of the same quality as bowlers as Jadeja and Axar You canrsquot make these things up Delulu Is The Only Sululu Please stay like this Pakistan Even though matches are onesidedhellipPakistanrsquos meme gamehellipmdash Aakash Chopra cricketaakash February 24 2025There was a time when the Pakistan team boasted legends like Wasim Akram Waqar Younis Shoaib Akhtar InzamamulHaq Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousufa golden era of sheer talent and dominance And now this team feels like a group project where no one knows what theyrsquore doinghellipmdash Mayank kulshrestha mayankkul6 February 24 2025Wasimm pictwittercom3M54OiD3Gemdash Ans PakForeverIA February 23 2025Let us dissect where it all went wrong for Mohammad Rizwanrsquos men in this 50over trainwreckErratic buildup Tactical mishapsRizwan was handed the whiteball captaincy in October last year and initially showed promise leading Pakistan to an unexpected 21 ODI series win over world champions Australia their first such win in 22 years They even managed to outplay Zimbabwe and inflicted a historic 30 whitewash on South Africa in their own backyardBut just when Pakistan seemed to be getting things right their usual chaos returned Rising star Saim Ayub injured his ankle during a Test in South Africa and in classic PCB fashion the team management waited until the very last moment to announce the Champions Trophy squad only to realise Ayub wasnrsquot fit after all To make matters worse their only established opener Fakhar Zaman was ruled out after the opening match a 60run thrashing by New ZealandMeanwhile Pakistanrsquos muchhyped pace attack of Shaheen Afridi Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf who were rested from the Test series to keep them fresh looked anything but fresh utterly ineffective at controlling the death oversFlawed squad choicesPakistan selectors ignored widespread calls for a second frontline spinner relying instead on parttimers Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah who managed to take a total of one wicket in two matchesBut the real trouble came due to the lack of a proper opener Instead they promoted an outofform Babar Azam to partner Zaman When Zaman inevitably got injured they brought in ImamulHaq who was far from repaying their faith by scoring a only 10 runs as Pakistan were steamrolled by India last SundayThen came another blunder selecting allrounders Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf based on their performances in Bangladeshrsquos T20 league despite neither having played an ODI for years Former captain and TV pundit Rashid Latif didnrsquot hold back calling it a political selection and blaming outside influencesA nostalgic trip to the 1990sPakistanrsquos outdated approach was called out by none other than former captain Shahid Afridi who perfectly summed up their backward tactics In 2025 Pakistan was playing the cricket style of the 1980s and 1990s while other teams had progressed well to adopt an aggressive and modern style The ailment of playing too many dot balls also hurt our gameAnd the stats donrsquot lie Pakistanrsquos chronic obsession with dot balls was on full display Against India they chewed up 152 dot balls while crawling to 241 in 494 overs including a record 28 consecutive scoreless deliveries in the first six overs Against New Zealand they played 162 dot balls in their total of 260 in 472 oversAfridi didnrsquot mince words The mindset of Pakistan players does not match with modernday cricket We need a complete overhaul of the system so that we can produce players with an aggressive mindsetA complete overhaul sounds ambitious for now Pakistan can sit back and reflect on how they turned a home tournament into a nationwide disappointmentWith quotes from AFP