The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opening match was played between Mohammad Rizwan-led Pakistan National Cricket Team and Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand National Cricket Team on Wednesday, February 19.
Mohammad Rizwan’s Pakistan National Cricket Team faced an embarrassing defeat of 60 runs at the hands of the Black Caps at the National Stadium in Karachi. They will next take on arch-rivals, India National Cricket Team, on Sunday, February 23 in Dubai.
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy Points Table 2025: Updated Standings After Pakistan vs New Zealand, Match 1
Pakistan won the toss in the CT opener
The Men In Green won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match. Pakistan bowlers did a good job by reducing the Kiwis to 73/3. However, they were not able to stop Will Young and Tom Latham – both of whom hit brilliant tons.
Pakistan ended up conceding 320 runs in 50 overs as Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah got two wickets each and Abrar Ahmed picked one wicket.
Chasing the target, Pakistan never looked in the game. Babar Azam played a very slow knock of 64 runs off 90 balls, with many claiming he played a selfish innings.
Other than him, only Khushdil Shah hit a fifty (69 off 49), while the rest of the batters failed. The run rate kept increasing with every over passing and the Men In Green were eventually bowled out for 260 runs in 47.2 overs.
They made a good target, we didn’t expect that – Mohammad Rizwan
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Mohammad Rizwan admitted that they didn’t expect New Zealand to post a big total on the board. He also acknowledged the mistakes made by Pakistan throughout the innings. Mohammad Rizwan said:
“They made a good target, we didn’t expect that. We were looking at something around 260. We tried our best and used all tactics, but they played well and put up a good target.
“We see the pitch conditions, earlier the pitch wasn’t easy to bat but when Will Young and Latham got together batted it got easier. At the end, we made the same mistake like we did in Lahore and they made a good target. We didn’t get a good start with the bat,” Mohammad Rizwan added.
When asked about the extent of the injury to Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan said that he was not sure about it but revealed that the batter was in pain. Mohammad Rizwan further said that they were disappointed to lose the match and blamed poor death bowling and poor powerplay batting for the defeat.
“Not sure yet, he hasn’t got his result yet. He is in some pain. We lost the momentum twice – once while bowling in the death and then while batting in the powerplay. It is disappointing for us, we played it like a normal match. The match is gone now and hopefully we can do better in the rest,” Mohammad Rizwan said.
How Did Pakistan Perform In The Previous Match Against New Zealand?
Pakistan’s performance in the previous match against New Zealand, which was the Tri-Nation Series final, was quite underwhelming.
The Men In Green struggled with both the bat and ball and lost the match. Winning the toss and batting first, the top-3 were not able to score big runs. Fakhar Zaman (10) and Saud Shakeel (8) departed early while Babar Azam looked in good touch, scoring 29 off 34 balls, but his dismissal further dented Pakistan’s momentum.
However, Mohammad Rizwan (46) and Salman Agha (45) fought for a while and stitched up a good 88-run partnership, but their slow batting put pressure on the lower order.
Tayyab Tahir provided some spark with a quickfire 38 off 33 balls but Pakistan’s inability to accelerate in the final overs resulted in a below-par total of 242.
With the ball, Naseem Shah looked solid. He removed Will Young early and then also picked up the wicket of Devon Conway. But the bowlers didn’t look threatening, and Kane Williamson (34), along with Daryl Mitchell (57), absorbed the pressure.
Tom Latham (56) played an incredible innings and he capitalized on Pakistan’s missed chances as he was dropped twice before reaching his half-century.
While Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi bowled well in patches, the lack of support from the spinners and a poor batting effort meant Pakistan lost the match by 5 wickets with 28 balls remaining.
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