New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, left, and teammates attend a practice session for the ICC Champions Trophy, in Karachi, Pakistan Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Pakistan vs New Zealand, PAK vs NZ Champions Trophy 2025 Match National Stadium Pitch Report And Karachi Weather Forecast: Pakistan and New Zealand will face each other once again after the recent Tri-Series final at the National Stadium in Karachi, the same venue where the Kiwis outclassed the hosts and won the Tri-Series trophy last Friday. This time around though, they will be facing off in the opener of the Champions Trophy with the stakes much higher.
The Black Caps who have won the last two ODIs against Pakistan will be pretty confident on repeating the feat once again with most of the players firing on all cylinders. Pakistan, meanwhile, have been buoyed by the return of Haris Rauf who couldn’t take part in the Tri-Series due to injury.
READ MORE: Stage set in Karachi today, India waits in Dubai as hybrid Champions Trophy kickstarts
Pakistan vs New Zealand Pitch Report
The pitch at the National Stadium has always been a high scoring venue with an average first innings score of 289 runs. At the early portions of the day, pacers are expected to find assistance from the surface but in a balancing act, the batters are also expected to run riot. As the day progresses, however, the spinners will get purchase from the ground and grow into the match.
Pakistan vs New Zealand Weather Report
The weather at the National Stadium is expected to be conducive to cricket with Accuweather predicting a mostly cloudy and very warm conditions in the morning which will turn to breezy in the afternoon. The afternoon temperature is expected to b around 32 degrees while it goes down to 23 degrees in the evening.
Squads:
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan, Saud Shakeel
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Mark Chapman, Rachin Ravindra
