The opening batsman of Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament. He sustained an injury in their match against New Zealand during the tournament opener.
New Zealand won the Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan by 60 runs.
It is learned that Pakistan has named Imam-ul-Haq as the replacement of Fakhar. Just after two deliveries into the match, Fakhar had to leave the field against New Zealand. He injured himself while fielding in the first innings of the game. New Zealand opener Will Young played a great shot through covers and Zaman pursued the ball and managed to stop it near the boundary line but got injured.
During the latter half of the first inning, Fakhar returned to the field, however, he wasn’t able to open the innings considering his lengthy time off the field. He came out to bat at number 4 but struggled throughout the innings. He was visibly in pain while running between the wickets.
In the end, he scored 24 runs off 41 balls and shared a stand of 47 runs off 65 deliveries with Babar Azam. Babar also struggled to increase the strike rate.
There was also the factor of a big target ahead of Pakistan. Khushdil Shah tried to counterattack during the fag end of the inning but that was not enough. The hosts fell short by 60 runs and lost the opening game to New Zealand.
Now, Pakistan will face their arch-rivals India in the match on February 23. It will be an important game for Pakistan as it will likely result in a knockout if they lose that game. Their last group-stage match is against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on February 27.
The replacement of Fakhar, Imam hasn’t played an international game since 2023. He was part of the 2023 ODI World Cup squad.