"It's a perennial weakness" - Aakash Chopra on Pakistan's weaknesses ahead of 2025 Champions Trophy

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked Pakistan's tendency to crumble under pressure as one of their weaknesses ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy. He pointed out that the Men in Green were eliminated in the preliminary stages of the last two ICC events.

The 2025 Champions Trophy will be played in three cities in Pakistan and Dubai in the UAE from February 19 onwards. The Men in Green head into the tournament as the defending champions, having won the 2017 edition after beating India in the final.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener noted that Pakistan have succumbed to pressure in ICC events lately.

"Pakistan's weakness is not a weakness of today. It's a perennial weakness. Of course, they are the defending champions in the Champions Trophy, but the truth is that they get stuck under pressure. They lost to the USA in the last ICC event (2024 T20 World Cup) and didn't qualify for the second round," he said (5:30).

"They reached the final in the 2022 T20 World Cup for sure but they were totally missing in the 2023 ODI World Cup. So this is a team that just implodes under pressure. They just go completely missing. So you will have to agree that is one of Pakistan's weaknesses," Chopra added.

Pakistan lost to the United States of America in the 2024 T20 World Cup group phase and couldn't reach the Super Eights. They were pipped by New Zealand to the final semi-final berth in the 2023 ODI World Cup.

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"They are inconsistent" - Aakash Chopra on Pakistan's other weakness heading into 2025 Champions Trophy

Pakistan lost to Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose Pakistan's inconsistency as their other weakness heading into the 2025 Champions Trophy.

"Secondly, they are inconsistent. Their graph goes up and down. They rarely have a flat line. They are probably like their country. Their country also goes like that, up and down. The same is reflected in their cricket team," he said (6:10).

The cricketer-turned-analyst expressed skepticism about Mohammad Rizwan and company overcoming their shortcomings in the upcoming Champions Trophy.

"They are volatile. They are an unpredictable side. Pakistan's middle name is unpredictable. So imploding under pressure and an unpredictable side, those are a couple of issues. Can Pakistan overcome that? That is my question mark because they will be under pressure," Chopra observed.

Pakistan beat Australia and South Africa in away ODI series but lost a game to Zimbabwe in between, although they won the series 2-1. They lost to New Zealand in the recent tri-series final at home after beating the Proteas to reach the summit clash.