Rumman Raees, a left-arm bowler from Pakistan, attacked interim head coach Aqib Javed over comments implying the present team lacks experience following the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 event.
Responding to questions on the absence of the two young players Sufiyan Muqeem and Muhammad Irfan Khan, Aaqib answered Rawalpindi on Wednesday ahead of Pakistan’s last group-stage game against Bangladesh by citing their inexperience. “Irfan Khan has only played eight ODIs so far; he hasn’t delivered any innings that made us feel we missed him or that he created a significant impact,” Javed added.
“We selected him depending on his prospective value. He made his ODI debut in South Africa; prior to that, he performed well in T20Is in Zimbabwe, earning a place on the South Africa trip.
“But the reality is, he has played only one ODI so far, hasn’t even made his first-class debut yet, and hasn’t participated many List A matches.”
Raees, who claimed that he and Fakhar Zaman made their respective debuts in the same tournament, objected to Javed’s comments as Pakistan’s Champions Trophy-winning team was also inexperienced.
“It is not an excuse that your team was inexperienced,” Raees stated. “I made my ODI in the semi-final [and] Fakhar Zaman debuted on that team.
“Look at that 2017 Champions Trophy team and contrast it with the current group; their game count will be less. Among the seasoned players were Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Amir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Junaid Khan.
Rumman Raees added that a team is composed of core players and that not every member of the squad cannot be expected to be supporting a great degree of expertise.
“The team is always built around the core players, you cannot expect 11 players to have played 100 ODIs each,” Raees said.
