ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Harbhajan Singh names one Pakistan player who "can take the game away from India"

Legendary India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has backed India to win the highly anticipated contest against Pakistan but also warned the Men in Blue to be aware of the destructive opener Fakhar Zaman.

Harbhajan Singh feels that Fakhar has the experience and will be a key player for the Men in Green. The left-hander has loads of experience and relies on his destructive abilities to give his team aggressive starts at the top.

After spending several months out of the team, Fakhar Zaman made his comeback recently during the home tri-series involving New Zealand and South Africa. He looked in good touch in the series and Pakistan will be expecting more from their senior batter.

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Harbhajan Singh warns Team India of Fakhar Zaman

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan Singh named Fakhar Zaman as one player who can trouble India in their upcoming match against Pakistan. Harbhajan claimed that Fakhar has the experience and the ability to take the game away from India.

"Fakhar (Zaman) has that experience, and he can take the game away from India," Harbhajan Singh said while discussing about India-Pakistan match on his YouTube channel.

Fakhar played a career-changing knock in Pakistan's last Champions Trophy match against India. He struck a brilliant hundred that helped his team lift the trophy in the last edition of the tournament.

Harbhajan Singh also compared the players of both teams and termed India way ahead of Pakistan. He backed India to win the match comfortably despite all the hype of this being a close contest.

Fakhar Zaman's memorable hundred against India

Fakhar Zaman struck a memorable hundred against India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at the Oval. He had made his ODI debut during that Champions Trophy edition. However, this knock against India in the final changed his career and he became his country's superstar.

Fakhar struck 114 off just 106 balls in a knock filled with youthful strokeplay. He was excellent against both the fast bowlers and the spinners as he smashed 12 fours and 3 sixes during his knock.

It is to be noted that Fakhar was particularly lucky in this innings as he was dismissed early in his innings by Jasprit Bumrah. However, no ball from Bumrah enabled him to stay and he played one of the greatest innings in the history of Champions Trophy.

Pakistan scored a mammoth 338-4 in 50 overs in the final on the back of Fakhar Zaman's hundred. In reply, India were dismissed for just 158 inside 31 overs. As a result, Pakistan won the match by 180 runs and became the winners of the Champions Trophy 2017 under the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Fakhar Zaman's ODI numbers

Fakhar Zaman is one of the in-form players in Pakistan and boasts a terrific record in ODIs. The 34-year-old left-hander has played 85 ODIs and scored 3627 runs at an impressive average of 46.50 and a strike rate of 94.23 with 11 hundreds and 17 fifties.

Pakistan will be without their regular opener Saim Ayub in the upcoming Champions Trophy as he has been ruled out due to an ankle injury. As a result, the pressure will be on the experienced Fakhar to provide his team with good starts at the top.