Mohammad Rizwan blames star player for disturbing Team Pakistan after CT 2025 disaster

Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Mohammad Rizwan has opened up about the humiliation his team faced in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Hosts Pakistan faced an early exit from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and they finished at the bottom of the Group A points table behind New Zealand, India, and Bangladesh.

Also Read: Wasim Akram exposes Ex-England star for crying after Jos Buttler-led team's CT 2025 exit

The expectations from the whole nation is high but we didn't perform - Mohammad Rizwan

Pakistan lost their first two matches of the ICC Champions Trophy against New Zealand and Pakistan to get eliminated from the competition.

Their last match was against Bangladesh on Thursday, February 27, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Due to continuous rain in the city, the play was unable to get underway and the match got washed out. It was the first time Pakistan were involved in a washout in the Champions Trophy history.

Speaking after the match, Mohammad Rizwan expressed his frustration over the washout and said, "It has been raining in the last few days. You can't do anything about it."

Mohammad Rizwan added that the nation had a lot of expectations from the Pakistan team, but they disappointed everyone. However, the Pakistan skipper stated that they have identified the mistakes and will learn from them. He said:

“The expectations from the whole nation is high but we didn't perform and that is disappointing for us. Obviously, you can learn from the mistakes. Thankfully we noticed our mistakes from the tri-series and the big tournament. Hopefully, we can work on it when we play against New Zealand next and, hopefully we can improve there."

The team gets disturbed - Mohammad Rizwan on Saim Ayub's injury

Mohammad Rizwan further said that the injury to Saim Ayub disturbed Team Pakistan and then Fakhar Zaman also got injured. He elaborated:

“Basically, the guy (Saim Ayyub) who has performed well in Australia and here, he is injured. The team gets disturbed. But as a captain, you have to look forward as you are playing for Pakistan. We have a lot of talent, we didn't give it as an excuse that Saim Ayub was injured and Fakhar Zaman was injured."

Mohammad Rizwan, in the end, talked about the bench strength of Team Pakistan and said that they need to improve in many aspects.

“Bench strength of Pakistan, we have five teams in Champions Cup. We need lot of improvement in different aspects. We need to bring in awareness and professionalism to take our team to a higher level like other teams. I can't say anything, it's disappointing. We’re here representing our nation, that’s our priority. The expectation of our nation was high. It's disappointed that we didn't perform well. We accept that, our nation is upset, we’re also upset,” Mohammad Rizwan concluded.

How did Pakistan perform in their previous ODI match against Bangladesh

Pakistan delivered a dominant performance in their previous ODI match against Bangladesh on October 31 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

The Men In Green clinched a 7-wicket win with 105 balls remaining as they outclassed the Tigers in all three departments. Pakistan bowlers set the tone early, with Shaheen Afridi reaching his 100th ODI wicket by dismissing Tanzid Hasan in the first over.

He bowled a lethal spell of 3/23 to rattle Bangladesh, while Mohammad Wasim (3/31) and Haris Rauf (2/36) provided him with great support.

While chasing a modest target of 205, Pakistan’s openers did a tremendous job. Fakhar Zaman smashed 81 off 74 balls, including seven sixes and three fours. Abdullah Shafique also played fluently and scored 68 runs, adding a 128-run stand with Fakhar.

Even though spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz bagged three wickets, Pakistan never looked in trouble as Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed easily guided Pakistanto a dominant win.