- Pakistan’s dashing opener Fakhar Zaman is completely out of the Champions Trophy 2025. In his place, the fearsome opener, who has scored at an average of over 48 in ODIs, has been included in the 15-man squad.
Fakhar Zaman: Pakistan has suffered a major setback at the start of the Champions Trophy 2025. Their star batsman Fakhar Zaman is out of the entire tournament. Fakhar Zaman was injured in the opening match played between India and New Zealand on 19 February, after which he left the field. After this, he did not even return to the field to start Pakistan’s innings, after which it was suspected that he had suffered serious injuries. But now Fakhar Zaman himself has confirmed that he is out of this tournament.
This player replaced
The exclusion of star opener Fakhar Zaman is being considered a big setback for Pakistan cricket. While in place of Fakhar, left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq has been included in the 15-member squad. Surprisingly, Imam-ul-Haq played the last ODI for Pakistan in the World Cup 2023 on 27 October in Chennai, after which he was dropped from the team.
But now he has returned to the Pakistan team once again. Sources say that Imam will join the team soon. At the same time, Imam ul Haq also participated in practice matches before the Champions Trophy 2025. He was representing the Pakistan Shaheen team. Which played two matches before the Champions Trophy.
Imam’s ODI record
29-year-old Pakistani opener Imam-ul-Haq has played a total of 72 ODIs for the national team, in which he has scored 3138 runs with a strong average of 48.27. During this, a total of 9 centuries and 20 half-centuries have come off his bat. At one time Imam ul Haq has been an important part of the Pakistani team, but due to poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023, he was shown the way out by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
However, in the meantime, he continued to play domestic cricket and kept performing well. Imam played a strong innings of 98 runs for the Pakistani Shaheen against South Africa in Karachi in a practice match. However, Pakistan may miss Fakhar Zaman in the upcoming matches.