Pakistan and New Zealand get the ball rolling in the ICC Champions Trophy in Karachi on Wednesday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting
This is a Group A match with India and Bangladesh, who meet in Dubai on Thursday, the other sides making up this quartet.
Pakistan Recent Form
Earlier this month Pakistan hosted a tri series with New Zealand and South Africa to tune up for this tournament. They lost to New Zealand in Lahore by 78 runs before beating the Proteas by 6 wickets in Karachi. The final, also in Karachi saw New Zealand come out on top by 5 wickets.
In December 2024 Pakistan impressed with a 3-0 clean sweep of the Proteas in South Africa. In November. They recovered from losing the opening match of a 3 game series in Zimbabwe to win 2-1. It was the same story in Australia when they lost the first match by 2 wickets but bounced back with wide margin wins (9 wickets and 8 wickets) to claim the series 2-1.
Squad: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
New Zealand Recent Form
New Zealand beat Afghanistan by 2 wickets in a warm up match at this venue on Sunday with both sides scoring over 300 runs. Their victory over Pakistan in the final aforementioned tri series saw them chase down 243 for victory with 50's for Mitchell and Latham.
The Black Caps hosted Sri Lanka in a 3 match series in January. They won the first 2 contests easily, 9 wickets and 113 runs but lost the final match by 140 runs.
Squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 118 times in this format with Pakistan winning 61 to New Zealand's 53 and there has been 1 tie and 3 no results
The Betting
At the time of writing Pakistan are 7/10 to win this match and New Zealand can be backed at 23/20 with BetXchange
To in the tournament outright Pakistan are around 20/3 and New Zealand are 69/10
To reach the semi final Pakistan are 7/10 and New Zealand 17/20
Prices subject to change
The Verdict
I was really impressed with Pakistan in the South Africa series and therefore a bit surprised to see them lose to New Zealand twice in the recent tri series.
With India to come whoever loses this will be up against it and in play betting looks a handy option. For a pre-match pick I'm looking to the Player Performance market and NZ skipper Santner can score handy runs and take wickets so he gets my vote to beat his quote
Bet: Player Performance Mitchell Santner over 32.5 at 17/20 with BetXchange
Prices subject to change
