Pakistan's ICC Champions Trophy Squads: A comparison of 2017 vs 2025

[mominsaigol]

Before CT started i had many discussions with fellow PP members as to which team was stronger . At the time most excluding a select few argued that 2025 Pakistan was stronger then 2017 PK despite my disagreements. But let's look at the overall facts.

2017 vs 2025

1) Fakhar 2017 > Fakhar 2025
2) Azhar Ali > Saud Shakeel
3) Babar Azam 2017 > Babar Azam 2025
4) Hafeez as a no 4 allrounder > Rizwan as a no 4 wicket keeper
5) Agha on current form > Malik in 2017
6) Sarfraz Ahmed > Tayyab Tahir
7) Imad Wasim > Khusdil Shah
8) Shadab Khan 2017 > Abrar
9) Amir > Shaheen
10) Hasan Ali 2017 > Naseem
11) Junaid Khan > Rauf

12) Ahmed Shehzad > Kamran Ghulam
13) Rumman Raees > Husnain
14) Haris Sohail > Usman Khan
15) Faheem Ashraf 2017 = Faheem ashraf 2025, their both equally rubbish.

With the exception of Salman Ali Agha, 2017 Pakistan wipes the floor with 2025 ct Pakistan. You can also argue Rizwan > Sarfi as a batsmen but rizzu plays at no 4 while Sarfi played at no 6. Sarfraz should be compared with tayyab while rizzu should be compared with hafeez/Haris sohail.

Let's be honest, Saim ayub masked how weak Pakistan truly was for a while in the same way Warner, Travis head and Marsh were masking how paper thin Australia's batting line up currently is.

With Fakhar injured, it's safe to say, Pakistan's campaign is over.

Thank you Misbah, Aqib, Babar and Rizwan for your services towards Pakistan cricket. Champions trophy 2017 will be the final trophy in PK's cabinet.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Pakistan has a history of turning things around after disasterous campaign openers.

Check what people said after we killed Pakistan cricket team in our opening game in 2017. Then you came back like cornered tigers and destroyed us in the final bro.

Where is the belief?

 

[ipog]

Pak team does well when everyone writes them off, they could very well win the trophy here.

 

[emranabbas]

Pakistan has a history of turning things around after disasterous campaign openers.

Check what people said after we killed Pakistan cricket team in our opening game in 2017. Then you came back like cornered tigers and destroyed us in the final bro.

Where is the belief?

Bhaijaan those were diffrent category of players
This babar and rizwan have no shame in them after being humiliated by fans many times and losing us 6 7 tournaments they still think they are superstars. Need to go back to the olden days burning effigies and attacking houses to waken them up

 

[Bhaijaan]

Bhaijaan those were diffrent category of players
This babar and rizwan have no shame in them after being humiliated by fans many times and losing us 6 7 tournaments they still think they are superstars. Need to go back to the olden days burning effigies and attacking houses to waken them up

I agree.
Their intent has been under doubt for a long time and actually i have been a supporter of Bobby B & Rizzler bhai for a long time but i am also starting to notice a lot of selfishness in their approach. It’s not the right way to play.

What Babar did yesterday is unpardonable. He really has to seriously explain what he was thinking yesterday.

 

[RidiculousMan]

What's the point of this comparison?

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I watched that trophy live & honestly the team was garbage & played poorly until Sri Lanka decided that they don't want to catch the ball no matter what.

India toyed with us & our entire new batch of PSL recruits were exposed.
The match against South Africa was pure luck. A new opener in Fakhar was recruited at the last moment.
We were done & dusted against Lanka but they stopped catching, as if a switch was flicked somewhere.

The match against England was the best I've ever seen Pak play. & the India final was a good performance but based on the results after that, it was clear that these two results were just one off & were not repeated again.

It's just that Pak are in a cycle of gradual downfall so ordinary players like Hafeez now look as world beaters to us. That's how you see the trajectory of your journey; if the past in the rear view looks golden & current situation looks dire, it's time to hit the panic buttons & eject while you still can.

 

[Rana]

Pak team does well when everyone writes them off, they could very well win the trophy here.

When “everyone writes them off”, not the captain himself. That’s a key difference

 

[mesmerizer85]

I'll give an example of what worked in Pakistan Cricket Team's favor during the 2017 Champions Trophy. In the initial matches, which Pakistan lost, Ahmad Shehzad was opening but had a low strike rate. The moment they brought in Fakhar Zaman, the batting lineup started to look much stronger, as a solid start had a positive impact on the rest of the batsmen.

Similarly, Wahab Riaz, who was leaking runs, was replaced by Rumman Raees, who not only took wickets but was also economical.

The key takeaway is to prioritize batsmen with intent, good strike rates, and solid averages, while selecting bowlers who are economical and offer variations. Spinners should be given opportunities to shine rather than relying solely on raw pace. We've seen how excessive reliance on express pace, like Wahab Riaz and Haris Rauf, has often led to leaking runs.

If we compare that CT 2017 squad to the present, Saim Ayub’s introduction can be seen as similar to Fakhar Zaman’s back then—except Saim also brings the added advantage of being able to bowl

 

[chinaman00]

ICC Tournaments have become torments for Pakistan. In 2017, Pakistan discarded old useless players and introduced new dynamic players hungry for prominence. Fakhr, Shadab, Faheem, Imad Wasim & Hassan Ali.

These days Pakistan selects squads with no strategy or thinking. How do you select a squad for a major ICC event, especially your first ICC event in decades that has zero middle order and tried and failed bowling attack? How many times has Kohli and co. decimated Shaheen, Naseem & Rauf? Yet Pakistan kept delivering this impotent attack to India on a silver plater and the same domination was repeated.

Pitiful

 

[kron]

lol what nonsense same team got demolished by India in Asia cup right after the fluke 2017 win bro

 

[mesmerizer85]

lol what nonsense same team got demolished by India in Asia cup right after the fluke 2017 win bro

Exactly the same team?

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

ICC Tournaments have become torments for Pakistan. In 2017, Pakistan discarded old useless players and introduced new dynamic players hungry for prominence. Fakhr, Shadab, Faheem, Imad Wasim & Hassan Ali.

These days Pakistan selects squads with no strategy or thinking. How do you select a squad for a major ICC event, especially your first ICC event in decades that has zero middle order and tried and failed bowling attack? How many times has Kohli and co. decimated Shaheen, Naseem & Rauf? Yet Pakistan kept delivering this impotent attack to India on a silver plater and the same domination was repeated.

Pitiful

Well then have a look at australia they never change their trio what makes you think pakistan will do that even if someone come good lets say you bring new guys they performed for some matches then they dont perform you will say bring these guys back it doesn't work like that either play new guys and stick with them forever like Australia has done with starc hazlewood Cummins

 

[kron]

Exactly the same team?

More or less
Junaid khan who I like btw was caught chucking

 

[BDfanforever]

2025 Pakistan is alot stronger than 2017 version. 2017 was more or less a fluke. However, thing is rest of the teams SENA + IND also improved a lot comparatively. Regardless, CT is a very short tournament to judge anything, you also need a bit of luck for such tournament which Pakistan got in 2017.