Australia great identifies Pakistan’s game-changing factor in CT 2025

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has identified Pakistan’s bowling unit to be a game-changing factor for the side in the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.

Pakistan have opted to go with four pacers including Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain alongside Abrar Ahmed as the only frontline spinner for the tournament.

Discussing Pakistan’s recent performance in the ODIs, Ricky Ponting said that the side’s bowling unit possesses the skill to trouble top batting lineups.

According to Ponting, Pakistan’s fast bowling unit could prove to be a game-changer at the tournament.

“Pakistan’s fast bowling brigade is very, very good. Led by Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, who’ve been terrific in recent series, they have the pace and skill to trouble any batting line-up,” the former Australia captain said.

Mentioning the absence of opening batter Saim Ayub from the national side’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad, he said that his absence was a ‘massive gap to fill.’

Ricky Ponting highlighted the importance of star batter Babar Azam and captain Mohammad Rizwan in Pakistan’s batting.

“Babar has been a bit up and down in recent years, but if he and Rizwan can bring their A-games, that’s when Pakistan becomes incredibly dangerous,” he said.

The former Australia captain termed Pakistan’s key players’ performance a key for them to qualify for the semi-final.

“They’ve still got enough high-quality players to beat any team on any given day. If they play well, they’ll be right in it,” Ricky Ponting said.

Pakistan squad for tri-nation series, Champions Trophy 2025:

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