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'No Pressure': Babar Azam Confident About Pakistan’s Champions Trophy 2025 Strategy

Rajgeeta Yadav

Babar Azam on team's planning for the Champions Trophy [Source: @ICC/X]Babar Azam on team's planning for the Champions Trophy [Source: @ICC/X]

With the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 just around the corner, Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam has made it clear that the team isn’t feeling any pressure. As the defending champions, Pakistan will be aiming to fix the mistakes they made in past tournaments and put up a strong performance this time.

Pakistan haven't had the best track record in recent ICC events. They finished fifth in the ODI World Cup 2023 and didn’t even make it past the group stage in the T20 World Cup 2024. But Babar, who is now 30 years old, believes that the past is behind them, and the team is focused on improving.

Speaking to the ICC ahead of their opening match against New Zealand on February 19, Babar said that the team has reflected on their past errors and worked on fixing them.

“There is no pressure on us,” Babar stated.

“What happened before is in the past. We’ve talked about our mistakes and worked on them. Our focus is to avoid repeating them,” he said. 

Back in 2017, when Pakistan won the Champions Trophy by defeating India, Babar was just 22 years old. This time, as one of the senior players in the squad, he carries more responsibility. However, he sees this as a positive challenge and is eager to contribute to the team’s success.

“Being a senior player means the team relies on you and believes in you,” Babar said.

 “I take this as a positive. I try to give my best in every match so that Pakistan wins. I enjoy playing cricket.”

Playing on home soil could work in Pakistan’s favour. Babar acknowledged that knowing the pitch conditions gives them an advantage, but he also emphasised that they need to play their best cricket to succeed.

Babar’s Form and The Road Ahead

Babar’s recent form in ODIs hasn’t been great—he has struggled to convert good starts into big scores, with his last century coming in 2023. However, he is hopeful that playing at home will help him get back to his best.

Before their Champions Trophy opener against New Zealand on February 19, Pakistan will also face the same team in the final of an ODI tri-series on Friday.