Karachi, February 20 (H.S.): After a long wait of seven years, the Champions Trophy returned, and in the first match of the tournament, New Zealand got off to a great start by defeating Pakistan by 60 runs.

New Zealand had a struggling start in this match played late on Wednesday night. Pakistani bowlers Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed put up a tough fight and took the wickets of Devon Conway, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell within the opening 73 runs. But after this, Tom Latham (118) and Will Young (107) put on a partnership of 118 runs to get New Zealand out of a difficult situation.

In the end, Glenn Phillips played a blistering knock of 61 off 39 balls, which helped New Zealand add 113 runs in the last 10 overs to take the score to 320/5.

Chasing the wrong target in the death overs conceded by Rizwan, the Pakistan team crumbled under the pressure of this huge target and the entire team was reduced to 260 runs. After the match, Pakistan batsman Mohammad Rizwan said, We didn't expect them to reach 320. We thought we would restrict them around 260, but Will Young and Laitham played very smartly. We didn't perform well in the final overs, so they put up a big score.

Pakistan will face their arch-rivals India on Sunday. A loss in this match could end Pakistan's title defense hopes. However, amidst mounting pressure, Rizwan said, We will treat this match as a normal match and will not put extra pressure on ourselves as the defending champions.

All eyes are now on the high-voltage India-Pakistan match, where Pakistan will need to win at all costs.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar