'None of their batters have scored hundred' - Aakash Chopra blames Pakistan's poor batting in Champions Trophy 2025

ICC Champions Trophy is well underway, and two teams from Group A - India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals of the 2025 edition of the tournament. On the other hand, Pakistan were knocked out following their heavy defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India on Sunday, February 23.

For the unversed, Pakistan's batting has been extremely poor in the tournament so far. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, the backbone of their batting unit, are either not contributing enough with the bat or their scoring rate has been extremely sluggish. In fact, none of the Pakistani batters have scored a hundred thus far, which makes them the only team with such unlikely statistics, and has got the former cricketer Aakash Chopra to blame the batters for Pakistan's early exit from the Champions Trophy.

Looking forward to Pakistan's upcoming game against Bangladesh on Thursday, February 27, in Rawalpindi, Chopra elaborated it as a "dead rubber," given both the teams facing off are already eliminated from the race of Champions Trophy campaign. However, he stated the crucial scenario of playing for pride and highlighting the batting flaws that have been a mark of question for the Pakistan team throughout the tournament.

"Pakistan-Bangladesh, of course, it's a dead rubber. Logically, there is no point in having this match, but it cannot be a pointless game for multiple reasons. This has been a batter's tournament thus far. There is no team, barring hosts Pakistan, whose players haven't scored a hundred," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

"Towhid Hridoy scored a hundred against India. However, no one from their team has done that thus far. How will a player score a hundred when the team is unable to score 250? However, Bangladesh also scored only 228, but that too had a hundred," Chopra added.

As the tournament moves ahead, Pakistan's focus will more likely be to win their last match in the campaign, looking to make changes in their batting issues and restore some pride to end the things on a high.