In the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Karachi, Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first against New Zealand.
After losing early wickets to Pakistan’s bowlers in the Champions Trophy opener, New Zealand began to accelerate their innings.
Will Young’s performance helped to stabilize the innings, reaching 49 not out in 16 overs. New Zealand was at 73/2 after 16 overs.
The batting lineup includes Kane Williamson and Devon Conway. Under the leadership of Mitchell Santner, New Zealand has a solid batting line-up and a strong pace attack led by Matt Henry
Pakistan’s bowlers made an early impact, dismissing key New Zealand batsmen Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, and Daryl Mitchell.
Abrar Ahmed removed Conway for 10 runs in the eighth over, Naseem Shah dismissed Williamson for 1 run, and Haris Rauf took the wicket of Mitchell for 10.
The match is being played at Karachi’s National Bank Cricket Stadium. President Asif Ali Zardari and First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari are attending the match as chief guests, and the event included an aerial display by the Pakistan Air Force’s Sherdils team.
The eight-team tournament is being held across three venues in Pakistan—Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi—and in Dubai, UAE, from February 19 to March 9. This event marks Pakistan’s return to hosting an ICC event after a 29-year gap, with the last one being the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (C/WK), Salman Ali Agha, Tayyab Tahir. Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (C), Matt Henry, Nathan Smith, Will O’Rourke
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