Pakistan vs New Zealand, Champions Trophy LIVE SCORE: PAK thrashed by 60 runs, all but knocked out already

Babar Azam took a whopping 81 balls to reach fifty runs and played out 49 dot balls in that period. Salman Ali Agha gave them a semblance of momentum at the other end but he perished on 42 off 28 balls.

Fakhar Zaman was earlier batting on one leg and couldn’t run at all. New Zealand made the most of the situation by bowling spinners with the pace entirely off. Fakhar looked ready to go off the field at one point after crumpling down on the ground in the follow through of a slog sweep. However, he has soldiered on but his inabilty to run is not helping Pakistan one bit.

Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel earlier opened for Pakistan, with Fakhar only being able to take the field 20 minutes into their innings due to the fact that he was out for large parts of New Zealand’s knock in the first match of the Champions Trophy in Karachi. Shakeel couldn’t last long enough to make Fakhar eligible to bat and perished against Will O’Rourke in the fourth over. Pakistan are chasing a target of 321 with Tom Latham’s unbeaten 118 off 104 balls, Will Young’s 107 off 113 and Glenn Phillips’ 61 off 39 taking New Zealand to a score of 320/5.

Latham breezed past a century in 95 balls as he and Phillips unleashed the big shots towards the end of New Zealand’s innings. The Kiwis scored at well over 11 runs an over between the 40th and 50th overs.

Young earlier fell to Naseem Shah in the 38th over and that brought to an end a colossal knock from the opener who is playing in the first match of the Champions Trophy against Pakistan due to an injury to Rachin Ravindra. He scored 107 in 113 balls in Karachi, having gone past 100 in 107 balls. Young’s partnership with Tom Latham produced 118 runs in 126 balls. The latter himself scored a half-century for the second consecutive time in ODIs and has the dangerous Glenn Phillips at the other end.

Young played an almost chanceless knock to bring up his fourth ODI century. While New Zealand were shaky for much of the first half of their innings, Young has struck up a strong partnership with Tom Latham which seems to have left Pakistan bereft of ideas in the middle overs. Latham himself is now approaching his half-century. Young has once again shown his value as he opened the innings for New Zealand in place of the injured Rachin Ravindra.

A see-saw start to the match

New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals for much of the first half of their innings. They were off to a fast start but they were suddenly rattled in the seventh and eighth overs with Abrar Ahmed and Naseem Shah sending back Devon Conway and Kane Williamson respectively. Mohammad Rizwan won the toss in the first match against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy, opting to chase as he put in the Kiwis to bat first in Karachi. Haris Rauf was judged fit, but Rachin Ravindra misses out. Fakhar Zaman appeared to hurt himself early and was off the field for a few overs. He is now back though and seems as fit as ever.

Pakistan and New Zealand XIs

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke

The Champions Trophy is back

It’s back! It has been eight long years since spectators last got to watch the ICC Champions Trophy, and there has been plenty and more that has transpired in international white-ball cricket ever since. A couple of ODI World Cups, a glut of T20I World Cups, captaincy shifts, personnel changes – the landscape of the sport is not the same as it was in 2017. Pakistan are ready to defend their crown as victors of the Champions Trophy after all this time, and on this occasion get to defend it at home, as a major ICC tournament heads to Pakistan for the first time in 30 years.

The tournament begins with Pakistan the hosts participating in the match that will start it all, taking on New Zealand in Lahore as they get the group stages started. The pair will have a third match in just about two weeks, having faced off a couple of times in the recently-concluded Tri-Nation series, a preparatory event not just for the teams, but also for the venues as they look to get everything in order ahead of this crucial tournament. New Zealand beat Pakistan on both occasions in the series, including handily in the finals, which will present ominous signs for the hosts – but it’s about peaking at the right time, and against a Kiwi team that finds itself battling against a lengthening injury list like many other teams in the tournament, the hosts will fancy their chances.

New Zealand are always a threat in tournaments such as these, showing that consistency and solid cricket can be such a difference-maker in the face of teams that can be volatile and have peaks and troughs. However, while Mitchell Santner’s team has plenty of threats throughout the order, injuries to Lockie Ferguson and Ben Sears, as well as Rachin Ravindra’s freak head injury, mean that they are slightly short-staffed, especially on the bowling front. Don’t write them off, though: the Kiwis love pulling off upsets that you can’t really call upsets, and somewhat derailing Pakistan’s all-important home campaign would just be typical of the Black Caps.

What do the hosts have in store for us? For starters, expect tracks in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi that will be an absolute dream to bat on. No country in world cricket has seen more 300+ scores being scores in the last 5 years, and while the Test team has asked for turners recently, the same is not true for Mohammad Rizwan’s ODI unit. Expect a lot of runs through the tournament, which will make for a thrilling tournament after a couple of low-scoring editions in England the last couple of times. The Champions Trophy must return with a bang, and this is one way to do it.

From the team itself, the major player missing through injury (and every team in the tournament seems to have at least one of those) is opener Saim Ayub, who in his short ODI career so far has shown extreme promise at the top of the order. His non-availability means Babar Azam has been promoted to the top of the order, as he looks for his first ODI century since May 2023. Babar needs runs under his belt quickly, too, as the pressure mounts on him to produce after a quiet couple of years, with criticisms growing louder and louder. Pakistan’s positives from the tri-series lie in their middle order batting, with Rizwan and Salman Agha looking in solid touch, and pace bowling, with both Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah looking in good touch, and Haris Rauf the kind of player who always seems to produce his best in these big tournaments. But for Pakistan, it might well be the batting that makes it or breaks it.

Highlights from Pakistan vs New Zealand, Champions Trophy 2025:

– Pakistan lost to New Zealand by 60 runs

– Babar crawled his way to 64 in 90 balls before falling to Mitchell Santner

– Pakistan’s run rate has hardly ever gone above 3.5 throughout the first 25 overs of their innings

– Fakhar Zaman couldn’t open for Pakistan

– New Zealand 320/5 in 50 overs

– Glenn Phillips scored his half-century in just 35 balls

– Tom Latham scored his century in 95 balls

– Will Young was dismissed on 107 off 113 balls

– Will Young scored his century in 107 balls

– Partnership between Will Young and Tom Latham crossed 50 in 64 balls

– Will Young scored his 11th ODI half-century in 56 balls

– Will Young opened the innings in place of Rachin Ravindra and has been New Zealand’s best batter of the day

– New Zealand lost three wickets in the first 17 overs, including that of the in-form Kane Williamson

– Pakistan won the toss and chose to field