Pakistan’s prospects of progress to the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinals now hang by a thread after they lost their opening match. The next challenge for the men in green will come against arch-rivals India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (February 23). India cleared their first match against Bangladesh easily. They are in second position in group B while Pakistan has been pushed to the last position. The two teams fought it out in Karachi, with New Zealand scoring 321 runs, while led by Mohammed Rizwan, Pakistan could not chase that target, falling short.
Half-centuries for Pakistan were scored by Babar Azam and Khushdil Shah, while Salman Ali Agha made a whirlwind contribution of 42 from 28 balls. Their individual efforts were however futile as New Zealand clinched a huge 60-run win.
In the meantime, the previous game against Bangladesh served them as total domination in all departments.
Mohammed Shami’s five-wicket haul ensured Bangladesh’s rejection for just 228 while Shubman Gill was exceptional for India when it came to batting; he starred with his first century, an unbeaten 101 from 129 balls.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul contributed 41 runs each in the Indian innings as they chased down the total in just 46.3 overs.
Weather for India vs Pakistan clash:
Given the clearer weather conditions in Dubai, rain is not an issue likely to interrupt the India-Pakistan game in the Champions Trophy on February 23. It rained two days prior to India’s first match of the tournament in Dubai.
The weather showed that it would remain partly cloudy during the day with maximum temperatures in the high 30s, dropping at night to as low as 23 degrees.
Pitch Report:
The conditions of the pitch at Dubai International Cricket stadium would favour bowlers. Most of the one-day internationals here have been taken low with their scores. Batting against the Indian side in the last Champions Trophy was not easy for the Bangladesh team.
At this venue, only four teams have managed to cross the 300-run mark in ODI matches. The first innings averages 219 as the score on this pitch. Thus a target above 250 should generally be considered a decent target.
