"Ye chaar overs ke batters and chaar overs ke bowlers" - Former captain’s scathing attack on Pakistan after IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy match

Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik believes the current players of the national team are fit only for T20 cricket, as they hardly know how to convert that potential into the 50-over format. The former middle-order batter's statement came after Mohammad Rizwan and company suffered a six-wicket loss to India in the Champions Trophy 2025 clash on Sunday, February 23.

Although Pakistan won the toss on a tricky Dubai surface, they couldn't put up a strong batting performance. Saud Shakeel top-scored with 62 and contributions from Rizwan (46) and Khushdil Shah (38) dragged their side to 241, but their bowling proved toothless. Virat Kohli stood tall and finished unbeaten on 100 to fashion a six-wicket for the Men in Blue.

Speaking on the show 'Game On Hai,' Malik said (via Indian Express):

"Ye chaar overs ke batters and 4 overs ke bowlers (They are batters and bowlers of four overs). And in the one-day cricket you can’t win games with these players. We have potential in T20 cricket but we don’t know how to convert those potential in the longer formats."

After Pakistan lost their second wicket in the 10th over on 47, Rizwan and Shakeel failed to find the required momentum in the middle overs and played too many dot balls. Their dot balls amounted to 152 in the innings and India needed only 42.3 overs to chase down 242 despite leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed registering impressive figures of 10-0-28-1.

"Talent is there but there is no planning" - Mohammad Hafeez slams Pakistan's team selection after IND vs PAK 2025 Champions Trophy match

Mohammad Hafeez. (Image Credits: Getty)

Yet another former captain Mohammad Hafeez felt 241 was a stiff total to chase and India could've been made to work harder had Pakistan picked another specialist spinner. On the same show, Hafeez claimed:

"Talent is there but there is no planning. By choice they didn’t picked a quality opener. By choice we didn’t picked an extra spinner. We dominated in these conditions for the past ten years as a home team. We should know what the winning mantra of Dubai. To me 240 on this track was a very good total. If we would have a quality spinners, the result could have been different."

With the defending champions almost knocked out of the competition, they will next face Bangladesh on Thursday, February 27.