Did Aamir Jamal Deserve A Place In Pakistan's Champions Trophy 2025 Squad?

Abhinav Tyagi

Aamir Jamal- (Source:@FaridKhan/X.com)Aamir Jamal- (Source:@FaridKhan/X.com)

Story continues below ADVERTISEMENT

On Friday, January 31, PCB finally announced Pakistan's much-awaited Champions Trophy 2025 squad. The 15-member squad features several new faces, who weren't around the team for a long time. 

The likes of Usman Khan and Faheem Ashraf, who weren't part of Pakistan's ODI set-up for a long time, earned a place in the Champions Trophy 2025 squad. Similarly, the 15-member list also had noticeable changes. While, Saim Ayub missed out on a spot because of injury, Aamir Jamal's exclusion sent shockwaves onto the internet. 

Notably, Jamal, who has been a part of Pakistan's set-up in the last year, was out of the team without any justification. Hurt by PCB's move, Jamal broke his silence on the snub and took to Instagram to express his views. 

But did Jamal deserve a place in the Champions Trophy squad? This article will shed light on that.

Aamir Jamal's Performance In 2024

Firstly, Aamir has featured in just three ODIs that too against Zimbabwe in November 2024. He took just 3 wickets in three matches. Overall, Jamal has played just 10 matches across all formats in 2024 and has just 13 wickets. 

However, Jamal had 238 runs in those 10 innings across formats and averaged 32. Thus, looking at the stats, PCB's decision to drop Jamal can't be questioned as he hasn't done exceptionally well to have a place in the team. 

Similarly, Faheem Ashraf, who has been picked in place of Jamal, is shining in BPL and is their tournament's leading wicket-taker. Notably, Ashraf has taken 20 wickets in 11 innings and is doing exceptionally well to be ignored. 

Pakistan Preferred Specialist Batters In Middle-Order

Another reason behind Jamal's exclusion could be PCB's preference to have specialised batters in the team rather than players who can bat in bits and pieces. Jamal can bat, not as a specialised batter, which is why the PCB opted to leave Jamal. 

No.7 spot in Pakistani side was up for grabs and rather than placing an all-rounder there, the management went ahead with having a specialised batter, which is why they chose Khushdil Shah to return to the team as he can bat and also punish the opposition with his hitting. 

Also, Pakistan have plenty of specialised bowlers such as Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf, which is why they went ahead with having specialist batters and not bowlers. 

Conclusion

Looking at Pakistan's squad, they had limited spots in all-rounders' category, which is why Jamal failed to get into the squad and the decision looks right looking at his performance in 2024. 

Jamal, for sure, would have been in contention, and it would have been a tough call for the selectors. However, looking at the playing conditions in Pakistan and Dubai, PCB's decision looks correct.