In the opening match of the Champions Trophy on the national team’s home ground, New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 60 runs after a one-sided match.
In the previous match played at the National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan invited New Zealand to bat first and the Kiwis scored 320 runs thanks to centuries from Will Young and Tom Latham, setting the Green Shirts a target of 321 runs to win.
Pakistan’s start was very disappointing in the chase of the target, except for Babar Azam’s 64 off 90 balls and Khushdil Shah’s 69 runs, no player could score a fifty and thus the Pakistani innings was all out after scoring 260 runs in just 47.2 overs.
After the defeat in the first match of the mega event and the home ground, the national team’s hopes of playing in the semi-finals have suffered a major blow. Pakistan will next play arch-rivals India in Dubai on February 23. The Green Shirts need a must-win match in this match.
If the national team loses, they could be out of the event, while Pakistan will have to register a must-win in the matches against Bangladesh and India to reach the next stage.
In addition to two wins, Pakistan will also have to keep an eye on the net run rate because it is possible that 3 teams end the group with 2 wins each, and then the decision will be made on the basis of net rate.
