Will Young and Tom Latham centuries help New Zealand beat Pakistan by 60 runs in opening match of Champions Trophy

New Zealand began their 2025 Champions Trophy journey with a huge win over hosts and defending Champions Pakistan. The margin of win was 60 runs and it could have been even bigger if it wasn’t for the late rally by Khushdil Shah. The biggest worry for Pakistan is the injury to Fakhar Zaman who is likely to be ruled out of the campaign. 

Put into bat, New Zealand managed to score 320 for the loss of five wickets from their 50 overs. Tom Latham was the top scorer with 118 not out while Will Young scored 107 runs with Glenn Phillips scoring 61 off 39 balls. Pakistan also let themselves down with poor showing in the field in the final overs of the innings. 

Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf picked two wickets each for the hosts. Haris Rauf was smashed for 83 runs from his 10 overs. Abrar Ahmed was the only economical bowler for the hosts with figures of 1/47 from 10 overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi had another bad day with the ball as he failed to pick any wickets from his ten overs. 

Mitchell Santner leads New Zealand to huge win 

Pakistan lost opener Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan to William O Rourke. By the end of the tenth over Pakistan were struggling to get going. To make matters worse Fakhar Zaman couldn’t run and was out for 24 in the as Pakistan were 69/3 at that stage. 

Agha Salman and Babar Azam then added 58 runs in 59 balls to give the hosts some hope, Salman was dismissed for 42 against the run of play. Babar Azam and Tayyab Tahir both fell in a space of few overs to Mitchell Santner to give huge boost to the visiting side. Khushdil Shah then swung his bat to score 69 of 46 balls with 10 fours and a six. 

The 30-year-old was dismissed while trying to go for a huge shot to give O Rourke his third wicket. Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah hit a few lusty blows but the Kiwi bowlers were too good and bowled out the hosts for 260 in the 48th over to win the game by 60 runs. 

Tom Latham who was given the player of the match was heard saying, “Felt nice to contribute, Will Young played exceptionally and then to get to 320 was just brilliant. When I came in, it was about building a partnership. We could do that and then improve the run rate, and then Glenn Phillps came in and played an exceptional hand once again."