"They have just 1 quality pacer" - Aakash Chopra on Afghanistan's weaknesses ahead of Champions Trophy 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked the lack of quality pacers as one of Afghanistan's weaknesses heading into the Champions Trophy 2025. He opined that Fazalhaq Farooqi was the only quality seamer in their lineup.

Afghanistan are placed in Group B alongside Australia, England, and South Africa for the Champions Trophy, to be played in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 onwards. Apart from Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad and Naveed Zadran are the two frontline seamers in their provisional squad.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener chose the lack of seam-bowling depth as one of Afghanistan's potential stumbling blocks in the Champions Trophy 2025.

"Fazalhaq Farooqi is their only quality pacer. They have Fareed Ahmad and Azmatullah Omarzai as well but they are not the same quality. They have just one quality pacer, who can also take care of the death. They will be one of those teams that will bowl spin even at the death," he said (8:55).

Chopra added that Farooqi might be the only specialist seamer in Afghanistan's playing XI, with Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib contributing a few overs of medium pace.

"They have options, but pacer is something that they tend to miss a little. Since all their games are in Pakistan, they should be able to manage. Interestingly, Pakistan have kept only one spinner in their squad and only one fast bowler might play in Afgshanistan's XI and the second might be Azmatullah Omarzai, and a bit of Gulbadin Naib," he observed.

Fazalhaq Farooqi has picked up 50 wickets at an economy rate of 5.77 in 39 ODIs. While Fareed Ahmad has accounted for 25 dismissals at an economy rate of 5.40 in 18 ODI innings, Naveed Zadran has three scalps to his name in as many ODI innings while conceding an average of 7.18 runs per over.

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"You didn't see too many attacking batters apart from Rahmanullah Gurbaz" - Aakash Chopra on Afghanistan's other weakness ahead of Champions Trophy 2025

Rahmanullah Gurbaz has amassed 1769 runs at a strike rate of 88.49 in 46 ODIs. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose the lack of attacking batters, barring Rahmanullah Gurbaz, as Afghanistan's other weakness heading into the Champions Trophy 2025.

"The batting is solid but you didn't see too many attacking batters apart from Rahmanullah Gurbaz. You see Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Ibrahim Zadran going slowly. All of them bat at the same pace. They don't have too many batters who score quickly. So if it's a 325 to 350-run game, their batting gets stuck slightly," he said.

The analyst added that the Afghanistan batters might be found wanting if they are required to post or chase big totals on the potential flat pitches in Pakistan.

"Sometimes the pitch is extremely flat and even though you have quality spin or bowling, it is taken for runs. What will you do then? Then you look towards your batting as the pitch might be like a cemented one, and you get that many times in Pakistan. There their batting struggles at times in terms of firepower at the top," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra opined that Afghanistan could use Sediqullah Atal if they want to add some firepower to their batting. The left-handed opener has aggregated 230 runs at a strike rate of 83.03 in five ODI innings.