WHO: Pakistan vs New Zealand
Contents: ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Location: National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan
When: Wednesday, February 19th at 2pm (09:00 GMT)
Follow the match streams of live text and photo commentary from Al Jazeera Sport.
Host National Pakistan and New Zealand opened the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy at the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday, with both sides looking to build early markers for the tournament.
Pakistan is second-most favorite after India to win the tournament, but lost its final warm-up match against New Zealand on Friday, increasing the spotlight for the match.
Australia, the winner of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, is also a winning team, but Al Jazeera takes a closer look at Karachi Curtain Razor between the two sides who want to lift the trophy on March 9th.
Why isn’t Pakistan a favorite of the defending champion?
Pakistan unlocked the final edition of the Champions Trophy by defeating India in the 2017 final, but based on the consistency since then, the lost finalists are tournament favorites.
Pakistan has players who have won major matches in the form of former captains Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi, but the country’s ability to destroy at every stage of every match has led to a reputation that precedes them. I did.
Turbulence outside the field is no use either. Gary Kirsten was appointed Whiteball coach last year, but quickly left and was replaced by Test match coach Jason Gillespie. The former Australian bowler quickly walked out the door following his South African predecessor.
What are your chances at the New Zealand Champions Trophy?
New Zealand, which lifted the Champions Trophy in 2000, lost the finalists in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final and could never be amortized in major tournaments. While not boasting the masses of tournaments or other major teams since then, Kiwi mercilessly ousts out talents that impress the world’s global stage and national competitions.
Kiwi is currently ranked fourth in the world, so it is considered a serious contender, but it must break through Australia, the two favorites and World Cup owners, and hit the UK, the conqueror of 2019. To beat it will be a tall order.
When did Pakistan host a major tournament?
Pakistan’s international cricket has been significantly restricted after in recent years injured six players after being attacked by gunmen on a bus of a Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009.
Pakistan was shunned by the top team after the attack, and the Champions Trophy marks the first major global tournament in the country in nearly 30 years.
Form Guide – Pakistan
Despite losing to New Zealand the eve of the tournament, Pakistan brings a surprisingly good-formed book into the tournament. The Green men won the final three bilateral ODI series, including a 2-1 victory over World Champions Australia and a terrifying 3-0 destruction on the South African side.
Form Guide – New Zealand
The micro and macros in the New Zealand formbook are impressive. The Kiwi have reached the knockout stage of the ICC World Cup in four of their last five tournaments. They also bring the Tri-Series victory against Pakistan and South Africa, overcoming the former twice in between.
Sri Lanka, who failed to compete in the Champions Trophy, concluded the series in January, New Zealand 2-2, with the hosts skipping 150 in the final match of the four-game series. The batsmen other than Mark Chapman (81) have reached 20.
The last 5 ODI matches
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Head on
New Zealand ended its recent Pakistan domination with an ODI match by winning three of its final four encounters. Previously, Pakistan had claimed victory in seven of the final nine completed matches.
Pakistan Team News
Pakistan may not change from the side that lost to New Zealand on the eve of the Champions Trophy.
Captain Mohammad Rizwan suggests that maintaining faith in players will remain a strategy for Pakistan to enter the tournament rather than chop and change.
New Zealand Team News
New Zealand suffered another setback before the Champions Trophy and lost Rocky Ferguson with a leg injury.
The fast bowler was injured in a warm-up match against Afghanistan on Sunday.
His place with the New Zealand team was taken to Kyle Jamieson, who played the most recent one-day international in September 2023.
Ferguson’s injury follows another fast bowler, Ben Sears, lost to a hamstring injury.
Pakistan Team
Squad: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Aga (vice captain), Babar Azam, Fakar Zaman, Kamran Glam, Saud Sheek, Tairabu Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Kushdir Shah, Usman Khan , Abra Ahmed, Mohammad Hanain, Nasséemshah, Shaheen Shah Afridi
New Zealand Team
Squad: Mitchell Santner (captain), Michael Braiswell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Raychin Rabindra, Ben Sears, Natanan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young
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