With the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announcing the squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, cricketing fans across the country have been left disappointed, reacting strongly to some of the board’s “questionable” selections.

 

All-rounder Faheem Ashraf tops the list of cricketers whose selection has left fans fuming as they take to social media to voice their criticism. Netizens speculate if Ashraf, who last played an ODI for Pakistan in 2022, was picked to play for the national side due to his “political allegiances”.

 

 

While the board or any cricket officials have not reacted to the allegations, social media users, almost libelously, continue to share pictures of Ashraf with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif whom the all-rounder had met during his visit to London three years ago.

 

Amid claims that Ashraf’s selection was a result of his support for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), netizens are also training guns at the PCB for including Khushdil Shah and Usman Khan to the national squad.

 

While Shah and Ashraf performed well in this year’s season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), fans maintain the two “do not deserve a place in the team based solely on their BPL performances”. Khan, on the other hand, has not played even a single ODI for Pakistan so far and his performance in T20s, social media user say, does not justify a spot on the squad for the upcoming mega event.

 

Netizens are also calling the cricketing board out for “only selecting one spinner”, Abrar Ahmed, despite the team’s recent Test successes at home owing to outstanding spin bowling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It merits a mention that the reactions come a day after the team for Champions Trophy was announced.

The squad includes Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Muhammad Rizwan, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Muhammad Hasnain.