Delhi, 20 February (H.S.): In the inaugural match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, New Zealand made a brilliant start by defeating Pakistan by 60 runs. Thanks to excellent centuries from Tom Latham and Will Young, New Zealand posted a huge score of 320 runs, in reply to which the Pakistan team was limited to 260 runs.

Batting first after losing the toss, the New Zealand team had a struggling start. After the initial shocks, Will Young and Tom Latham took over the innings. Young scored the first century of his ODI career by playing an excellent innings of 107 runs. At the same time, Laitham completed a brilliant century in 95 balls and returned unbeaten by scoring 118 runs. Glenn Phillips also scored a brilliant 61 off 39 balls to take the team to a strong score of 320.

Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf took two wickets each for Pakistan, while Abrar Ahmed got one.

Chasing a target of 321 runs, the Pakistani team got off to a poor start. After the initial shocks, Babar Azam (64) and Khushdil Shah (69) tried to handle the team, but the rest of the batsmen could not contribute much. Openers Shad Shakeel (6) and Mohammad Rizwan (3) were out early, while Fakhar Zaman also made 24 runs. Pakistan team got all out before 16 balls.

For New Zealand, Will O'Rourke and Mitchell Santner took three wickets each, while Matt Henry took two wickets. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith also got one hit each.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar