The thrilling start of New Zealand against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy once again disappointed the local crowd in Karachi. The opening match of the Champions Trophy marks the first win of New Zealand against host Pakistan by 60 runs. This victory continues to upset Pakistan against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy.
The day started well for Pakistan as they won the toss and chose to field first and showcased their fast and defensive batting skills by reducing New Zealand to 73/3, but things took a turn rapidly when Will Young and Tom Latham stabilised the inning for New Zealand by building a partnership of 118 runs.
Meanwhile, the crucial quickfire from Glen Flips added the further 61 runs, resulting in a massive total for New Zealand. Will Young and Tom Latham played the fiery knocks of 113 and 118 runs in 113 and 104 balls. The delicate knocks from both the players made things hard for PAK bowlers.
In spite of having homeground advantage, Pak bowlers look ineffective in front of New Zealand batters except for the start of 10 overs. After the primary blow of wickets, NZ batters showed an excellent display of batting, making pacers beg for wickets.
Naseem Shah and Harish took 2 wickets, respectively, at the expense of 63 and 83 runs. Haris Rauf once again proved to be expensive and looked not so sharp with the ball; meanwhile, Shaheen Shah Afridi remained wicketless and expended over 68 runs.
New Zealand set the tone of the game by giving a massive target of 321 runs to Pakistan. In response to this, Pakistan shows a pure lazy game with trembling batting orders unable to connect balls. Initially, Pakistan’s chase results in the early fall of wickets.
Slow inning of Babar Azam 64 for 90 balls kept Pakistan out of the game; regular fall of wickets did not go in favour either. Salman Agha and Khushdil Shah tried to bring back Pakistan in the game by playing crucial knocks of 42 in 28 balls and 69 in 49 balls but didn’t succeed.
Once again, the lack of fighting attitude and coordination in the Pakistan team snatched the game away from them. New Zealand got its first win of the Champions Trophy, and it’s a big one that must be keeping them in a dominating position.
Edited By- Parth Singh
