Michael Vaughan was surprised by the empty stands during the opener clash of the Champions Trophy 2025 played between Pakistan and New Zealand.
Pakistan is hosting an ICC tournament after 29 years. The sub-continent nation was one of the co-hosts in the ODI World Cup 1996 and was expected to attract a large crowd in the ongoing first match of the ICC tournament.
With Cricket is greatly celebrated in Pakistan, the performance of their team in the recently concluded tri-series didn’t go well with the locals.
Great to see the champions trophy being played in Pakistan .. First major event since 1996 .. Have they forgotten to tell the locals it’s on .. Where is the crowd ?? #ChampionsTrophy2025
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 19, 2025
Vaughan took the issue to social media to highlight it. “Great to see the champions trophy being played in Pakistan .. First major event since 1996 .. Have they forgotten to tell the locals it’s on .. Where is the crowd ??” he wrote.
During the match, Rizwan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Haris Rauf was included in the Playing 11 after recovering from an injury. On the other hand, New Zealand missed the services of the all-rounder Rachin Ravindra.
New Zealand went on to cross 200+ runs with hundreds from Will Young and Tom Latham in the match.
After the ongoing match, Pakistan will play their next group stage match against their arch rivals India on February 23 at Dubai International Stadium.
With four teams in both groups, top two teams from each groups will advance to knock out stages. If India reaches semi finals in the tournament, India’s knock out stages and if qualify, finals will be played in Dubai which is set to play on March 09.
