Pakistan captain Mohammed Rizwan accepts the pressure they have as the defending champions and also claims “Playing in Pakistan will be great”.
Mohammad Rizwan-led Pakistan will lock horns with Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand to play the 1st ODI of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on February 19 in National Stadium, Karachi.
Pakistan and New Zealand both have played 118 ODIs so far where Pakistan won 61 games and New Zealand won 53 matches. On the other hand, Pakistan and New Zealand have faced off three times in the Champions Trophy in 2000, 2006 and 2009. New Zealand have won all three times.
Haris Rauf who sustained a muscular strain in his lower chest wall during the recently-concluded tri-series was declared available for the opening game of Champions Trophy against New Zealand at Karachi.
Winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bowl first. During the toss, Pakistan captain Mohammed Rizwan said “We will bowl first. Seen the last couple of matches dew comes in later, so want to maximise on that.
We are the defending champions so will be in a bit more pressure, but we will treat it like the previous tri-series. Playing in Pakistan will be great as well. Haris Rauf is fit again so he’s back in”.
Pakistan Playing 11: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
Champions Trophy 2025 PAK vs NZ Pitch Report
It’s been a high-scoring venue, with the average first innings score of 289. Of the 19 venues that have hosted at least six ODIs since January 2023, it is the second highest scoring venue after Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
However, there is no distinct advantage for winning the toss. In the last eight games played at the venue, teams batting first and bowling first have won four times each.
