Ravichandran Ashwin Criticizes Babar Azam’s Defensive Champions Trophy 2025 Knock Vs New Zealand

The former Indian spin all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed Babar Azam’s intentless knock against New Zealand during the opening fixture of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the National Stadium in Karachi. In a 321-run chase, the former Pakistan captain managed 64 runs at a strike rate of just 71.

None of the top four batters showed their aggression in the run chase, as they fell short by 60 runs and now could get eliminated from the semifinals. It was Khusdil Shah and Salman Ali Agha’s knocks that suffered a small margin of defeat.

Ravichandran Ashwin fails to read Babar Azam’s process in huge run chase

The former Indian spinner has claimed that even though Babar Azam has all the talent in the world, he failed to understand the veteran’s process behind the huge run chase, especially when Agha and Khusdil displayed fierce full batting. At the end of the powerplay, the green brigade limped at 22/2 in the second innings.

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“I’m a big fan of Babar Azam. Sometimes, as cricketers, when we want to safeguard our reputation, it becomes a problem. Reputation is not ahead of the team. Babar's knock was tough to watch. Intent kahan tha. Ghar pe rakh ke aaya tha kya? (Where was the intent? Did you keep it at your home?)” Ravichandran Ashwin expressed this during a recent interaction.

“I feel that coming into the match, Babar Azam didn’t create shot options for himself. He doesn’t have any shots, there’s no shot for the square of the wicket, no sweep, no reverse sweep, bottom hand is closed. There are no shots in his armory. Such innings weren’t even played in the 1990s.” The Chennai-born addressed.

Babar’s struggle is not new and continues from the tri-series that they played before the ICC event against the Blackcaps and South Africa. Their next game is against India, and it won’t be an easy task to beat the blue brigade.

Ravichandran Ashwin lauds injured Fakhar Zaman’s aggressive batting

Ashwin didn’t hold his words back as he tore into Babar’s knock while going through the chase. He also lauded Fakhar Zaman for taking risks with some risky shots despite injuring his muscle in the field during the first innings.

“What did they play yesterday? In the first 10 overs, they scored 20 runs without any shame. Salman Ali Agha, what a batting display! Tayyab Tahir, too, is aggressive, giving them a good platform to play. Babar is charging down the ground to defend the ball, he’s just playing dot ball everywhere. For this, he could have just gotten out.” Ravichandran Ashwin added.

“What makes me sad is that I agree he’s out of form. He wants to return to form. But there are only three matches in CT. Even if one is gone, you are almost knocked out. It was the same Pakistan that chased 350 recently. How can you score just 20 runs in the first powerplay? It wasn’t powerplay, it was poor play.” India’s second leading wicket-taker in international cricket elaborated.

Pakistan’s bowling was also not up to the mark, as they leaked so many runs in the lower middle order, but a strong start of three wickets in the first 17 overs.

Pakistan seeks do-or-die victory vs India

A defeat in the next game will end the journey for the Mohammad Rizwan-led side. Ravichandran Ashwin also highlighted Babar’s defensive shots after celebrating his half-century against the Kiwis.

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“Later on, Michael Bracewell is bowling, Glenn Phillips is bowling, and even Fakhar Zaman is trying to hit six, but our man (Babar) is just charging to score nothing. At least in anger, he could have hit something.” He shed light.

“After he got to 50, he scored a six. I'm flabbergasted when you have such a good game and play with this intent. I couldn’t watch the match; it was bad.” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.

Pakistan will face Rohit Sharma’s army on February 23 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.