Pakistan in focus at ICC Champions Trophy

Pakistan have played at every ICC Champions Trophy but are yet to lift the trophy – with their previous best performances being semi-final appearances in 2000, 2004 and 2009.

They are the lowest-ranked team at this summer’s tournament, and will be hoping to spring a surprise and get their hands on the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time.

Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England and Wales, we take a look back at their best performers in previous tournaments…

• Shoaib Malik is Pakistan’s leading appearance maker at the ICC Champions Trophy with 15. He has played at the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2013 editions of the tournament and is named in their squad for CT17
• Malik hit Pakistan’s highest score at the tournament with his knock of 128 against India in 2009
• Top of the run-scoring list for Pakistan is Mohammad Yousuf, who scored 484 runs across five tournaments
• Top of the averages is Saeed Anwar, who is streets ahead of his countrymen with an extraordinary average of 114.50 at the tournament! He scored 289 runs in just four innings
• 209 of Saeed Anwar’s runs came in the 2000 edition, the highest number of runs scored by a Pakistan player at one edition of the ICC Champions Trophy
• Anwar also has the most centuries for Pakistan at the tournament with 2
• Saeed Anwar shares the record for most scores of 50+ for Pakistan at the tournament with Mohammad Yousuf – who both passed the half-century mark on three occasions
• It’s no surprise that the most destructive Pakistan batsman – in terms of sixes hit – is Shahid Afridi, who hit ten maximums at the tournament. Six of his sixes came in one innings against Netherlands in 2002 – when he scored the fastest-ever 50 at the tournament off 18 balls – the most by a Pakistan batsman in an innings

• Afridi also has the highest strike rate of any Pakistan batsman at the tournament – 123.62 across his 13 innings
• With the ball, Afridi has had just as big an impact, taking the most wickets for Pakistan at the ICC Champions Trophy with 14
• He also recorded Pakistan’s best-ever figures at the tournament when he took 5 for 11 v Kenya in 2004
• Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took 8 wickets for Pakistan at the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 – the most in a single edition by a Pakistan bowler
• The best average at the tournament goes to former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who took 7 wickets at an average of 16.28
• Akhtar also has the best economy rate for his country at the ICC Champions Trophy – going at a rate of just 3.01 off his 37.5 overs
• Azhar Mahmood tops the best strike rate list; with his 8 wickets from 25 overs giving him a strike rate of 18.7 at the tournament
• In the field, Shoaib Malik has taken more catches than any other Pakistan player with eight in 15 games
• Behind the stumps, Kamran Akmal leads the way for wicket-keeping dismissals, having a hand in 14 dismissals at the ICC Champions Trophy (11 catches and 3 stumpings)