Ravichandran Ashwin called Babar Azam a 'tortoise' after his painfully slow knock hurt Pakistan in their Champions Trophy 2025 opener against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday. Playing his first ICC event at home, Babar seemed woefully out of touch in a laborious half-century that did Pakistan more harm than favours in a big run chase. Chasing a target of 321, Pakistan were dented early as regular opener Fakhar Zaman, who is generally the enforcer early on, was not allowed to bat at the top of the order because of the time he spent away from the field due to an injury in the first over of the match.
The new opening pair of Babar and Saud Shakeel showed very little intent in the powerplay. Shakeel was dismissed by Will O'Rourke in the fourth over. Babar's struggles, however, had only started. He could get the scoreboard moving and hit just two boundaries in the first powerplay. Pakistan also lost the wicket of captain Mohammad Rizwan to end the powerplay at 22/2 - the lowest score by any team in the Champions Trophy.
Babar and Fakhar Zaman put on a brief partnership of 47 runs but that too came from 65 balls. It didn't help Pakistan and Babar's cause that Fakhar was not able to run properly because of the injury.
The only time Pakistan looked to make some attempt at going for the target was when Salman Ali Agha batted in the middle. The right-hander smashed 42 off 28 balls, scoring at a strike rate of 150 with the help of six fours and a six to give some hope to the local fans but it was soon dashed once he was dismissed all-rounder Nathan Smith in the 31st over.
In the 56-run stand, Salman scored 42 of 28 while Babar struggled at the other end, playing 31 balls for 14 runs. Taking note of the chalk-and-cheese nature of the partnership, Ashwin said it was the perfect depiction of the tortoise and rabbit story
{{/usCountry}}In the 56-run stand, Salman scored 42 of 28 while Babar struggled at the other end, playing 31 balls for 14 runs. Taking note of the chalk-and-cheese nature of the partnership, Ashwin said it was the perfect depiction of the tortoise and rabbit story
{{/usCountry}}"Babar’s journey to 50 coupled with Salman Ali Agha’s batting has to be the best depiction of “ The Tortoise and Rabbit story” #ChampionsTrophy. The 50 I hope will come soon enough🤞" he wrote on X.
Babar finally reached his half-century off 81 balls and showed first signs of taking the attack to New Zealand. He scored 14 runs off 8 balls that also included a six. He wanted to hit another one out of the park off New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner but got a top edge to get dismissed for a laborious 64 off 90 deliveries that only included six boundaries.
After Babar's dismissal, Khusdil Shah played a refreshing knock of 66 off 49 balls to make sure Pakistan's net run rate did not take a severe hit and stay in the hunt of making it to the semi-finals by winning the next two games.
Pakistan were bowled out for 260 in 47.2 overs as New Zealand won the match by 60 runs.