Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali did not mince words and unleashed a scathing attack on his national cricket team and economy ahead of the highly anticipated ICC Champions Trophy 2025 clash against India.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ali said, "Agar one-sided hota hai, toh ab TV bhi nahi tootenge kyunki Pakistan mei mehangai bahut zyada hai. Ab zabaan se hi har cheez hogi (If Pakistan loses one-sidedly against India, the fans will not break their TV sets because of the rising inflation in the country. Now, people will just talk about it).

Ali also shared his thoughts on who he believed held the upper hand in the contest. "India are favourites. There is no doubt about that. In my opinion, if Pakistan manages to beat India, it will be upset because our cricket has gone down and is at all-time low," he stated.

He didn't hold back in his assessment of the Pakistani squad, particularly following Fakhar Zaman's injury.

"Who will bat at No 3, nobody knows. They might ask Usman Khan to open with Imam and bring Babar Azam at No 3," he speculated.

Citing the similar nature of Pakistan's top order, Ali lamented, "Fakhar Zaman is out. Now Pakistan's batting line-up from number one to five is similar. If their car is running in third gear, then it will stay in third gear. It won't be able to switch into turbo mode in the last five or ten overs. Pakistan should now play cricket with bat and brain, not with the mouth."

Ali also questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) priorities, criticising their spending on stadium renovations.

"The amount of money they spent in building the stadiums, they could have built a good team in half of that amount. But to build a team, you need intelligence. What is your vision? What's your thinking? How do you view a player's talent? These are the important things," he concluded.

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