Pakistan playing 11 for Champions Trophy 2025 leaked; Babar Azam removed as..

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has picked Pakistan's predicted Playing XI for the upcoming Champions Trophy. In a shocking move, he moved Babar back to No. 3 after he played as an opener in the recent tri-series involving New Zealand and South Africa.

Moving Babar Azam to the No. 3 spot means a place in the opening slot. Aakash Chopra feels that Saud Shakeel can move up the batting order to partner Fakhar Zaman at the top which will allow Babar to bat at his favorable spot.

While he chose Babar to bat at No. 3, Chopra also picked the allrounder Faheem Ashraf in the Playing XI. Faheem's selection was heavily criticized by several former cricketers like Wasim Akram as he has a dismal record in ODIs. However, he is the only fast-bowling all-rounder in the squad.

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Aakash Chopra predicts Pakistan's Playing XI for Champions Trophy

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra predicted the Playing XI of Pakistan ahead of their Champions Trophy opener against New Zealand. Chopra picked Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to bat at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.

He threw the name of Pakistan's vice-captain in Tests Saud Shakeel to open the batting alongside Fakhar Zaman. The middle order and the bowling line-up didn't have many surprises apart from the inclusion of Faheem Ashraf at No. 7.

"What will their predicted XI be like? I am thinking Saud Shakeel with Fakhar Zaman as Saim Ayub is not there now. Babar Azam at No. 3, Mohammad Rizwan at No. 4, and then Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed," Chopra said.

Chopra also emphasized the importance of Babar Azam in the line-up and felt that Pakistan's batting line-up will revolve around him and Mohammad Rizwan, who has been in good form with the bat recently.

"They are still reliant a lot on Babar Azam - 6000 ODI runs and the speed at which he has reached this far. Babar Azam's performances and Pakistan's wins are close-knit to each other. He and Mohammad Rizwan are their batting mainstays," he observed.

Players to watch out for

Further speaking in the same video, Aakash Chopra picked three Pakistan players who will be the ones to watch out for. Those three players are Saud Shakeel, Khushdil Shah, and Abrar Ahmed. All three of them are capable of bowling spin with Abrar being the specialist.

"There will be a little extra focus on three players - Saud Shakeel because we will properly see him playing for the first time, Khushdil Shah because he is a proven all-rounder in T20s, he has a golden arm as well, but can he do that job in ODIs, and Abrar Ahmed as he is slightly underrated and not many people have seen him or played against him," he noted.

Chopra decided to pick up a strong line-up which has enough options in the bowling department. However, there is still some concern over the availability of Haris Rauf who got injured during the tri-series.

Abrar Ahmed is the only specialist spinner in the squad with Salman Ali Agha likely to assist him with his off-spin bowling. Khushdil Shah is also capable of rolling his arm over as he did in the tri-series recently.

Babar Azam & Mohammad Rizwan in tri-series

Babar Azam was in poor form during the tri-series as he aggregated just 62 runs in three ODIs at an average of 20.66. He looked in good touch in the final but was unable to convert it into a big score once again.

On the other hand, skipper Mohammad Rizwan scored 171 runs in the series at an average of 85.50. Rizwan emerged as Pakistan's second-highest run-getter of the series, only behind Salman Ali Agha.