Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan reflected on the loss after the humiliating defeat on home ground in the first match of the Champions Trophy 2025 exhibition tournament, suggesting that his team could not foresee such all-round performance from New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday.
The Men in Green were edged out by 60 runs in the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 against New Zealand at the National Bank Stadium, Karachi.
Pakistan, despite the home advantage combined and winning the toss, made the wrong decision to bowl first as the wicket turned more difficult to bat on with the floodlights on. However, the failure of their top order to fire this time around was very costly to the defending champions.
“They put up a great target; we didn’t expect that. We were looking at 260 or thereabouts. We tried our very best; we tried everything we could, tactics-wise, but they played well and set a very good target,” Rizwan commented during the post-match presentation ceremony, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“The pitch conditions we assessed. It wasn’t easy to bat on beforehand, but when Will Young and Latham came together, it became easier to bat on. At the end, we made the same mistake like we did in Lahore, and they set a good target,” he threw in.
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Pakistan also had to make changes up the order after Fakhar Zaman sustained an injury within the first over of the match. Rizwan advised that he was still awaiting his results and was already hurting.
“Not sure yet; he hasn’t got his results yet; he is in some pain,” Rizwan revealed.
“We lost momentum twice – once with ball-in-hand during the death overs and then during the batting powerplay. It’s disappointing for us because we played it as a normal game. The match is gone and we hope we can get better in the future,” he concluded.
The captain expressed that his team couldn’t keep the momentum, whether with the ball or the bat. He was rather upset over Pakistan’s performance going forward in a crucial group-stage match.
Next for Pakistan is a trip to Dubai for their must-win clash against arch-rivals India. Packaged as a game which the defending champions have their pride stake in, this game will be putting both countries at loggerheads with each other.
