'India's B team will be very hard to beat for Pakistan': Sunil Gavaskar's damning take on Champions Trophy hosts' woes

Pakistan could have another round of sweeping changes within their cricket structure after their latest failure against India, which pretty much sealed their fate in the 2025 Champions Trophy. India great Sunil Gavaskar has now expressed surprise at the lack of bench strength within the men's first team considering the history the country has with producing natural talent. Mohammad Rizwan hit a four off his first ball against India but finished with a strike rate less than 60

Pakistan hardly ever looked capable of competing in the two matches they have played thus far in the tournament that they are hosting - against New Zealand who beat them by 60 runs and India who beat them by six wickets. Gavaskar said that in their current team, Pakistan would struggle to beat a second-string Indian side as well. "I think a B team certainly (can give Pakistan a run for their money). C team, I am not too sure. But a B team will be very, very hard to beat for Pakistan in their current form," Gavaskar said on Sports Today.

Pakistan batted first in Dubai against India and lumbered their way to 241 all out in 49.4 overs. India chased down the target in 42.3 overs with Virat Kohli scoring an unbeaten 100 in 111 balls. New Zealand beat Bangladesh the next day which confirmed Pakistan's first-round exit in the Champions Trophy.

'Quite surprising that nothing went their way'

Gavaskar pointed out that the lack of intent from Pakistan's batters is what hurt them. "The first ball (Mohammad) Rizwan faced, he hit for a boundary. Straightaway, I thought there would be a change in approach because, until then, it was all about knocking the ball around. But nothing changed. Before they knew it, the Indian spinners were finishing their overs quickly. It was quite surprising that nothing went their way," he said.

Pakistan were hurt by the absence of their regular opener Fakhar Zaman. He was replaced by a struggling Imam-ul-Haq, who scored just 10 runs in 26 balls before running himself out. They were also without Saim Ayub. Fakhar and Ayub are known to be Pakistan's most explosive batters and Gavaskar said he was surprised that they didn't have proper replacements for the players.

"I think it's surprising-this lack of bench strength. Pakistan always had natural talent. Natural in the sense that they may not have always been technically correct, but they had an instinctive understanding of bat and ball. Look at Inzamam-ul-Haq, for example. If you look at his stance, you wouldn't recommend that to a young batter, but he had great temperament. With that kind of temperament, he made up for any technical shortcomings," Gavaskar said.

"It's surprising that Pakistan have not been able to produce such talents. They also have the Pakistan Super League. How has India produced so many young stars in white-ball cricket? It's because of the IPL. Players from there have gone on to play in the Ranji Trophy and eventually for India. That is something Pakistan cricket must analyse. They need to figure out why they no longer have the bench strength they once did," said Gavaskar.

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