Pakistan are the fourth and final team in Group A of the 2025 Champions Trophy to be previewed ahead of the tournament beginning on February 19.

They will face Bangladesh, India and New Zealand for the fight to qualify for the semi-finals, where they could play Afghanistan, Australia, England or South Africa.

Pakistan will host the tournament, along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for India’s games, and will take part in the competition opener against New Zealand at 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 19 February in Karachi.

Here is an in-depth round-up of Pakistan’s history in the competition, their key player and more.

Champions Trophy history

Pakistan are the reigning champions of the tournament, having won the last edition in 2017 in England.

They thrashed rivals India in the final by 180 runs, as Fakhar Zaman hit 114 in their score of 338/4 before bowling India out for 158. Mohammad Amir led the way with 3/16 in six overs with the ball.

Fellow bowler Hasan Ali was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, as he took 13 wickets at an average of 14.69. Teammate Junaid Khan was third on the list with eight wickets.

Zaman, Ali and Khan all made the team of the tournament, along with captain and wicket-keeper Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Pakistan have been semi-finalists three times, coming in 2000, 2004 and 2009.

They were quarter-finalists in the inaugural edition of the competition in 1998 and failed to make it past the group stage in 2002, 2006 and 2013.

ODI form

Pakistan are currently third in the ICC ODI world rankings.

Since the 2019 World Cup, they have won 11 out of 13 bilateral series, only losing away to England in 2021 and at home to New Zealand in 2023.

They were knocked out in the Super Four stage of the 2023 Asia Cup and finished fifth out of 10 teams in the 2023 World Cup.

Since November 2024, they have won three series away from home in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa with an aggregate score of 7-2.

They are currently taking part in a tri-series with New Zealand and South Africa, but were defeated by the Kiwis by 78 runs in the first match.

Squad

Wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan will lead the Pakistan side in the tournament, having taken over as limited-overs captain in November 2024. He has an average of 40.60 in 84 ODIs, with three centuries.

He will work with Aaqib Javed, who is currently interim head coach across all formats, following the resignations of Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie in October and December as white-ball and red-ball coaches.

Pakistan have had seven interim or full-time coaches across all formats since Saqlain Mushtaq left the role in early 2023.

As a player, Javed made 163 ODI appearances for Pakistan and took 182 wickets at an average of 31.43.

Former captain Babar Azam is currently ranked as the number one ODI batter in the world, having overtaken India’s Shubman Gill in December 2023. He is close to reaching 6000 runs in the format, currently being sat on 5,967 after 124 matches. He is averaging 56.29 with 19 hundreds.

They also have the fourth-highest ranked bowler in the world – Shaheen Afridi. The 24-year-old has played 60 ODIs since his debut in 2018 and has taken 122 wickets at an average of 23.29 with three five-wicket hauls.

Full squad:

Batters – Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Khushdil Shah, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Fakhar Zaman

Wicket-keepers – Mohammad Rizwan (C)

All-rounders – Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Kamran Ghulam

Fast-bowlers – Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

Spinners – Abrar Ahmed

Key player

Pakistan’s success will be based off how well their fast bowlers perform, and particularly left-armer Shaheen Afridi.

Since breaking onto the international scene seven years ago he has shown he has the ability to be one of the world’s best bowlers with his swing and pace.

Despite poor performances in Test cricket in the past year, he has taken 60 wickets at an average of 22.7 in ODIs since the start of 2023.

Along with Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, he will be part of a formidable pace attack who are used to playing on Pakistani pitches where fast bowling is needed to produce chances on traditionally flat wickets.

Afridi was praised by former Pakistan bowler Sarfraz Nawaz for his control and swing when bowling: “He is an extraordinary bowler and is very lethal in his first two, three overs. I have rarely seen a bowler with such control over swing, seam and pace and yorkers with the new ball.”

Nawaz is best known for his spell of 7/4 against Australia to win a Test match in 1979 and also being one of the first bowlers to use reverse-swing.

Afridi took more wickets than any other Pakistan bowler at the 2023 World Cup with 18 wickets at an average of 26.72. Only five bowlers in the whole competition took more wickets than the left-armer.

If he takes early wickets like usual throughout the tournament then it will make it very hard for opposition teams to make challenging totals or chase down Pakistan’s scores.

One to watch

Abrar Ahmed has limited experience in ODI cricket but has shown his control with the ball when bowling his mix of mystery spin and leg spin.

The 26 year-old made his debut in the format in 2024 and despite only playing five games since then, he has taken 12 wickets at an average of 16.58.

He has also bowled with an economy of 4.32, which shows his ability to limit the opposition’s run-scoring and provide Pakistan with a different option to their fast bowlers, even if he’s not taking wickets.

He received praise from current and former Pakistani cricketers, including Mohammad Hafeez, who played almost 400 international matches between 2003 and 2021, after taking 7/114 in the first innings of his Test debut against England in 2022.

In that game, he was the first ever Pakistani bowler to take five wickets in the first session of their debut and followed it up with 4/120 in the second innings, giving him match figures of 11/134 on Test debut.

Abrar may be relatively inexperienced in international cricket but has already shown the ability to slow down teams’ run-scoring in the middle of innings, whilst also taking a wicket every 23 balls.

Prediction

In front of a home crowd, Pakistan should be able to play their best cricket and inspire the nation with hopes of winning back-to-back Champions Trophies.

Despite sometimes collapsing in international tournaments, they should progress past the group stages ahead of Bangladesh comfortably and will face a tough fight against New Zealand but may be helped by the support of the fans.

However, they will probably face Australia or South Africa in the semi-finals and will most likely not be strong enough to reach the final.

Prediction – Semi-final