Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score, Champions Trophy 2025: Will Young Nears Ton As Clueless Pakistan Crave For Wickets
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PAK vs NZ Match 1, ICC Champions Trophy 2025 LIVE Score: Haris Rauf has joined the party in style as he dismissed Daryl Mitchell for 10.
Match 1
| Batting | R | B |
|---|---|---|
| Will Young* | 80 | 88 |
| Tom Latham | 20 | 31 |
| Bowling | W/R | O |
|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 1/29 | 6 |
| Batting | R | B |
|---|---|---|
| Will Young* | 80 | 88 |
| Tom Latham | 20 | 31 |
| Bowling | W/R | O |
|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 1/29 | 6 |
Pakistan’s ICC Champions Trophy title defence begins on Wednesday
Karachi, 18 February 2025: The ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will commence in Pakistan on Wednesday, 19 February, with winners of the 2017 edition, Pakistan, taking on New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament at the National Stadium in Karachi. The first ball of the match will be bowled at 2pm PKT.
The eight-team tournament will be played across three venues in Pakistan – Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi – as well as in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 19 February to 9 March.
Pakistan is all set to host an ICC event for the first time since the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996, which concluded with the final at the Gaddafi Stadium, where Sri Lanka defeated Australia by seven wickets.
In the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy, the three venues in Pakistan – Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, National Stadium Karachi and Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium – have undergone major upgradation, offering players and spectators world-class facilities.
Pakistan enter the tournament as the defending champions, having beaten India in the final of the 2017 edition, led by Sarfaraz Ahmed. Fakhar Zaman was the player of the final for his imperious 114 off 106 deliveries, while Hasan Ali was named the player of the tournament for his tally of 13 wickets in five games.
The eight participating teams have been divided into two groups with hosts Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and New Zealand pooled in Group A while Group B comprises Afghanistan, current ODI World Cup champions Australia, England and South Africa.
Following their opening encounter against New Zealand, Pakistan will play their next two group matches on 23 February against India in Dubai and on 27 February against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.
In the group stage, three matches apiece will be played in Dubai, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
The first semi-final will be played on 4 March in Dubai. The newly-upgraded Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore will host the second semi-final on 5 March. If India do not qualify, the final will take place at the Gaddafi Stadium on 9 March, however, if they qualify, it will be held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Apart from winning this tournament in 2017, Pakistan has also reached the semi-finals of this competition on three occasions: 2000, 2004 and 2009.
Pakistan captain, Mohammad Rizwan: “A global event has come to Pakistan after 29 years, so I believe the entire nation is celebrating this historic occasion. There are no doubts about our performance, we have worked hard and learned from our mistakes. We hope that we play well tomorrow Insha’Allah.
“Our sole focus is on winning the tournament for the country and our people and we hope that we achieve the desired results.”
Pakistan’s 15-player squad:
Mohammad Rizwan (captain & wicket-keeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha (vice-captain), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan.
Pakistan’s group stage fixtures in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025:
19 Feb – vs New Zealand, Karachi
23 Feb – vs India, Dubai
27 Feb – vs Bangladesh, Rawalpindi
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Stats view
The hosts take on New Zealand in the tournament opener, having lost to them twice in the recent tri-series
Urooj: Babar’s form is still a concern
Big picture: Pakistan vs New Zealand (again)
We live in a time when the ODI is starved for attention, with the older sibling commanding instant respect for its age and wisdom and the younger one bawling at full lung capacity if you dare to look away while it cartwheels around the room. For all that, the middle child never fails to remind us how captivating it can be whenever a global tournament comes along. The last two ODI World Cups produced so many classics between them, and so many passages of play that showcased the variety of skills that this format can both compress and give breathing room to.
Given how little we’ve seen of it over the last year-and-a-half or thereabouts, then, our appetite for the ODI should be at its peak, even if the Champions Trophy remains an awkward fit in the calendar and the interests of the ICC’s member boards. So much has happened since Sarfaraz Ahmed lifted this trophy eight years ago, enough for everyone to forget that it even exists, but here we are now, and here it is once again.
We have Pakistan, the defending champions and (co-ish) hosts, to start us off, and they’ll face familiar foes in the tournament-opener. No visiting team has played more ODIs in this country than New Zealand’s 11 since the start of 2019, and they begin this Champions Trophy a mere five days after beating Pakistan in the final of an ODI tri-series. Karachi hosted that match, and will host this one too.
Rizwan says Rauf is ‘fully fit’ for Champions Trophy opener
It says something about the two teams that New Zealand and Pakistan finished fourth and fifth – just inside and just outside the knockouts spots – on the league tables of both the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, and that Pakistan won the head-to-head meetings both times. It speaks of two teams with potentially title-winning strengths as well as title-squandering flaws, and this, perhaps, makes it the ideal contest to kick things off.
Form guide
Pakistan LWLWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
New Zealand WWWLW
In the spotlight
He’s gone 21 innings without an ODI hundred, and while this wouldn’t be abnormal for most batters, Babar Azam isn’t most batters. That sequence only includes two single-digit scores, so it isn’t as if he’s been struggling, but few things will bring as much joy to Pakistan at the start of a global event on home soil as a big score from their until-recently-irreproachable run machine. He’s batting at the top of the order now rather than No. 3, so a score of significance will also ease any doubts Pakistan may have about the structure of their line-up.
In the recently concluded tri-series, New Zealand’s spinners finished with a combined economy rate of 4.41, which was remarkable considering their Pakistan and South Africa counterparts went at 5.67 and 5.94 respectively. It speaks to the quality of Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell, who picked up five wickets apiece during the tri-series at near-identical averages and economy rates. They form as enviable a spin combination as any in this tournament: a left-arm fingerspinner and an offspinner, both extremely handy with the bat.
Team news: Rauf boost for Pakistan
Haris Rauf played no part in the recent ODI tri-series after going off the field with a side strain during the opening game against New Zealand. He has been bowling in the nets in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy, though, and Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan was confident he would be fit to start the tournament-opener. This should leave Pakistan able to pick a full-strength XI.
Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Saud Shakeel, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (capt & wk), 5 Salman Agha, 6 Tayyab Tahir, 7 Khushdil Shah, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed.
New Zealand go into the Champions Trophy with two of their original fast-bowling selections – Lockie Ferguson and Ben Sears – out of the tournament. There’s also doubt over whether Rachin Ravindra – who hasn’t played a game since being struck on the head by the ball while fielding during the first match of the tri-series – will be fit to start, but the opener has been batting during training sessions in the lead-up to this tournament. New Zealand will take a call on him after their training session on Tuesday, with Will Young likely to open alongside Devon Conway should they decide not to risk Ravindra. Ferguson’s replacement Kyle Jamieson will not arrive in Karachi in time to be available for the first game.
New Zealand: 1 Rachin Ravindra/Will Young, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Will O’Rourke.
Pitch and conditions
Karachi hosted the last two matches of the recent tri-series, and they ended up as extremely dissimilar contests. On February 12, South Africa posted 352, the highest-ever total achieved at the venue, but that record only lasted a few hours as Pakistan hunted it down with an over to spare. Two days later, Will O’Rourke bagged four wickets and the unhittable Santner took 2 for 20 in his ten overs as Pakistan, electing to bat first in the final, were bundled out for 242, a total that New Zealand chased down with five wickets and 28 balls to spare.
What sort of surface will the National Stadium serve up on Wednesday, then? Recent history suggests this is a testing venue for fast bowlers in ODIs, as their combined average of 33.67 and economy rate of 6.02 over this decade would attest. Where Lahore has tended to be just as harsh to spinners, however, Karachi has given them a modicum of respite; while their wickets have come at 45.50, they have only gone at 5.11 per over.
Going by recent trends, pitches in global tournaments have tended to be good batting surfaces with something for bowlers to work with: the last three ICC ODI events – the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 and 2023 World Cups – finished with overall run rates of 5.54, 5.59 and 5.82 respectively.
Wednesday is expected to be a warm day in Karachi with a high of 29 degrees Celsius, and little to no chance of rain.
Stats and trivia
New Zealand (2000) and Pakistan (2017) both beat India in the final when they won their respective Champions Trophy titles.
These two teams have met three times in the Champions Trophy, in 2000, 2006 and 2009, with New Zealand winning all three times.
New Zealand have faced Pakistan 11 times in ODIs since the start of 2023, and the results have been neck-and-neck. While New Zealand have won five and lost six, they’ve won three of the last four meetings.
Of the 47 New Zealand batters to score 1000 ODI runs, Daryl Mitchell has the best average (50.42). His strike rate of 97.89 is also hugely impressive, since all five batters above him on that list average below 30.
Of the bowlers from the eight teams in this tournament, Shaheen Shah Afridi (21 at 22.04) is the highest wicket-taker in ODIs since the end of the 2023 World Cup.
Babar, Fakhar Zaman and Faheem Ashraf are the only members of Pakistan’s squad who were also part of their victorious 2017 campaign.
Quotes
“We’re all equal whether someone’s a platinum or an emerging player. The senior players have a bit more pressure on them, and we expect ourselves to perform on the biggest occasions, and this is as big as it gets.”
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan
“Anytime you’ve been in conditions you’re been coming up against is an advantage. We’re lucky we’ve been over here for a couple of weeks and played in Pakistan quite a bit over the last three years”
New Zealand keeper-batter Tom Latham
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Current Over 28 • NZ 125/3
Fakhar Zaman was in discomfort after trying to save a boundary off the second ball of the Champions Trophy opener
The Champions Trophy returns after almost eight years. Follow live updates from the opening game in Karachi
New Zealand opener suffered a nasty head injury ten days ago but looked comfortable in the nets on the eve of the match against Pakistan
The hosts take on New Zealand in the tournament opener, having lost to them twice in the recent tri-series
“He’s bowling with full rhythm today, too. He’s also putting work in the gym and isn’t complaining of any pains”
Big picture: Pakistan vs New Zealand (again)
Form guide
In the spotlight
Team news: Rauf boost for Pakistan
Pitch and conditions
Stats and trivia
Quotes
Fakhar Zaman being examined for ‘muscular sprain’; Ravindra not yet ready
Live blog – Young’s fifty leads NZ’s recovery
New Zealand cautious but Rachin Ravindra looks ready to go
Babar’s form in focus as Pakistan begin title defence
Rizwan says Rauf is ‘fully fit’ for Champions Trophy opener
ICC Champions Trophy
| Player Name | R | B | |
|---|---|---|---|
| not out | 80 | 88 | |
| bowled | 10 | 17 | |
| caught | 1 | 2 | |
| caught | 10 | 24 | |
| not out | 21 | 32 | |
| Extras | (lb 1, w 2) | ||
| Total | 125(3 wkts; 27.1 ovs) | ||
| Player Name | O | M | R | W | Econ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 4.83 | |
| 6 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 4.83 | |
| 5 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 3.2 | |
| 4 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 5.5 | |
| 3.1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 4.1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| Wkt | Runs | Players | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 39 | Devon Conway | Will Young |
| 2nd | 1 | Kane Williamson | Will Young |
| 3rd | 33 | Daryl Mitchell | Will Young |
| 4th | 52 | Tom Latham | Will Young |
| Team | M | W | L | PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAN | – | – | – | – |
| IND | – | – | – | – |
| NZ | – | – | – | – |
| PAK | – | – | – | – |
| Team | M | W | L | PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFG | – | – | – | – |
| AUS | – | – | – | – |
| ENG | – | – | – | – |
| SA | – | – | – | – |
