Pakistan’s captain Mohammad Rizwan, right, and his batting partner Saud Shakeel run between the wickets to score during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Sunil Gavaskar had a scathing comment on Pakistan’s recent woes when he said that this Pakistan team would struggle to even beat a second string Indian side. Champions Trophy hosts Pakistan have been in the receiving end of endless criticism ever since they lost to India on Sunday and it got much louder after they were dumped out of the tournament after New Zealand defeated Bangladesh on Monday.
“I think a B team (from India) certainly (can give Pakistan a run for their money). C team, I am not too sure. But a B team will be very, very hard to beat for Pakistan in their current form,” Gavaskar said on ‘Sports Today’.
“I think it’s surprising-this lack of bench strength. Pakistan always had natural talent. Natural in the sense that they may not have always been technically correct, but they had an instinctive understanding of bat and ball. Look at Inzamam-ul-Haq, for example. If you look at his stance, you wouldn’t recommend that to a young batter, but he had great temperament. With that kind of temperament, he made up for any technical shortcomings,” the former India batter added.
Gavaskar also pointed out that despite the Pakistan Super League, the Men in Green have failed to produce match-winners.
“How has India produced so many young stars in white-ball cricket? It’s because of the IPL. Players from there have gone on to play in the Ranji Trophy and eventually for India. That is something Pakistan cricket must analyse. They need to figure out why they no longer have the bench strength they once did.”
Since the 2017 World Cup, Pakistan have struggled in ICC tournaments with their best performance coming in the 2022 T20 World Cup where they reached the final and lost. The team also finished fifth in the last two ODI World Cups and have failed to reach any World Test Championship final.
