"He focuses on keeping his ICC ranking intact" - Former Pakistan spinner lashes out at Babar Azam ahead of IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy clash

Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has accused Babar Azam of being selfish and playing for milestones instead of putting the country first. According to Kaneria, the senior batter is only concerned about improving his numbers and ICC ranking.

Babar came in for a lot of criticism following his 90-ball 64 in Pakistan's opening match of the 2025 Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Karachi. Chasing a target of 321, Pakistan were bowled out for 260 as Babar scored at a strike rate of 71.11. Khushdil Shah smashed a valiant 69 off 49 but the match was well out of Pakistan's grasp by then.

Speaking ahead of the India vs Pakistan clash in Dubai, which will be played on Sunday, February 23, Kaneria raised serious questions over former captain Babar's commitment to the team. He told news agency PTI:

"If we talk about Babar Azam, he is playing for himself. When he is under pressure, he focuses on keeping his stats and ICC ranking intact. I have scored a fifty, I have done it. But where is the intent of winning the match for your side?"

The 44-year-old went on to praise Salman Agha (42 off 28 balls) and Khushdil for ensuring that Pakistan did not go down to New Zealand by a bigger margin. Kaneria elaborated:

"Salman Ali Agha and Khushdil Shah played great knocks, if those two boys hadn't scored quickly, then Pakistan would have lost by 100 runs, instead of losing by 60 runs. If you play, play for the country, country comes first. Show a little intent. But unfortunately, Babar couldn't do that."

Chasing 321, Pakistan were three down for 69 inside 21 overs and could not recover from the poor start. They were bowled out in 47.2 overs, getting their 2025 Champions Trophy campaign off to a poor start.

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"Gets stuck on left-arm spinners" - Kaneria on Babar Azam's struggles

Sharing his thoughts on the India vs Pakistan 2025 Champions Trophy clash, Kaneria opined that the Men in Blue are clear favorites because they are playing very good cricket while Pakistan are not. The former leg-spinner said:

"The scenario is crystal clear. I don't think there is much hype this time because Pakistan is not playing good cricket. India are playing excellent cricket."

Kaneria also predicted a tough time for Babar and the other batters against India's left-arm spin trio of Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Warning the Pakistan batters, he commented:

"The Pakistan team says that they play spin well, but Babar Azam, who is said to be one of the best players, no doubt he is, gets stuck on left-arm spinners. Jadeja and Axar are two proven world-class spinners. We have seen that even in the T20 World Cup, during the Pakistan-India game, Axar was the one who didn't leak a lot of runs.

"This indeed will be a big task for the Pakistani batters. There are a lot of left-handers in the middle-order of Pakistan's batting lineup like Saud Shakeel, Khushdil Shah. But I have been seeing that the Indian spinners have been bowling well against left-handed batsmen," Kaneria added.

While Pakistan lost their opening match in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Team India got their campaign underway with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in Dubai.