Winning Champions Trophy in 2017 was my career highlight: Sarfaraz Ahmed

In Pakistan, the 2025 Champions Trophy is scheduled to start on February 19. The Men in Green, led by Sarfaraz Ahmed, defeated fierce rivals India in the 2017 tournament final to win the title, and the team captained by Mohammad Rizwan will be looking to defend it. Sarfaraz reflected on his moment of glory and evaluated the team’s chances of making history ahead of a new iteration of the eight-team competition. As stated to ICC:

The players, supporters, and Pakistan are all prepared for the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, an event that has been planned for 29 years.

It would be an understatement to say we are giddy with anticipation for Pakistan’s match against New Zealand in Karachi next week, which will be the first senior ICC game to be hosted in my native country since 1996.

The opening match will begin three weeks of exciting cricket in a competition that transformed my life, and Karachi is a suitable host. My favourite day of my cricket career was when I won this trophy in 2017. Even though the anniversary was eight years ago, I still get chills every June when I see videos on social media about it.

I believe Pakistan has a quality team and a great chance of retaining that title. We’re talking about some of the greatest, particularly Babar Azam, and some of the youngsters from 2017 are still there.

He is a more experienced and dominant participant in the game than the Babar who played in 2017. Both his and Fakhar Zaman’s batting will be crucial for Pakistan.

Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi are both excellent bowlers who are playing well with the ball. Back in 2017, I found that Mohammad Rizwan, the captain, was a good wicketkeeper-batter.

Pressure will be present. There will be high expectations because Pakistan is playing at home and is the reigning champion, but the supporters will support them.

Naturally, it is a stacked field, meaning that any team can win. Afghanistan, Australia, and India all have excellent teams, in my opinion. To succeed in these circumstances, you will need to take advantage of their excellent spin possibilities.

At this point, I would probably choose Pakistan, India, Australia, and Afghanistan as my four semi-finalists, but I wouldn’t rule anyone out.

The match between India and Pakistan will be the most talked-about of the pool matchups, and it will be a big one.

Every time we get together, it is a momentous occasion, and there is a lot of expectation and pressure. However, as players, you must maintain your composure, make an effort to tune out the noise, and play with the same vigour as you would against Australia or any other team.

In our first game against India in 2017, we lost badly by 124 runs. We were bad in every way, and it was my first game as captain. Some of our senior players, including Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, gave their opinions during our excellent team meeting that followed. Characters like them are what you need in your life.

After that day, we had a different perspective. We made a few squad adjustments as a result of the acrimony, which boosted our confidence. After defeating South Africa, we were unstoppable.

I had complete faith that we would succeed, as did our head coach, Mickey Arthur. We were the tournament’s bottom-ranked team, but we had won a very difficult series against the West Indies, which was crucial for qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. We removed as much pressure as possible from the players because we believed we had nothing to lose.

In the semi-final match against England, our bowlers were outstanding. In the final, it was India.

I told the guys to calm down before the final because I was sure we were at an extremely high level. India was nothing we had not seen, as we were aware that we had defeated some of the top teams. I advised the boys to unwind, put the outcome out of their minds, and give it their all. The rest is history.

It is tough to put into words how it felt to win as the final wicket fell. I was at Gully when I made the final catch. I simply ran. I rushed into Shoaib Malik’s arms as soon as I saw him, embracing him. Then everyone on the team joined in. It was beyond description.

I see it online every time I know June 18 is approaching—that catch, that ball, that moment. I caught the bouncer that Hasan Ali bowled to Jasprit Bumrah. Fantastic.

The following evening, I arrived in Karachi about half an hour before the fasting period began. There were people everywhere, including Pakistan Cricket employees, supporters, and local politicians, both inside and outside the airport, where I was accompanied by my wife and child.

There were thousands of people on the street when I arrived home. After spending a long time greeting everyone, I carried the trophy to my balcony and displayed it for everyone to see. They were applauding and celebrating—it was quite incredible.

That is an ICC tournament’s power. And I’m excited to see who will come after us.