Champions Trophy 2025: Big Blow For Pakistan! Fakhar Zaman Goes Off Injured During PAK vs NZ Match

Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan cricket team got off to a worst possible start in the Champions Trophy in their first match against New Zealand on Wednesday, Feb 19 at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Star player Fakhar Zaman had to leave the field just two balls into the game after he went down on his knees to stop a boundary. He did manage to stop it from rolling down to the fence but seemingly hurt his knees in the process.

He was immediately replaced by Kamran Ghulam and now we have to wait for official confirmation of how grave the injury is.

The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy is the first ever ICC tournament that Pakistan are hosting since the 1996 ODI World Cup. A big occasion sure it is, but when you lose a huge star like Fakhar early on in the game, it's not actually a good sign. We might have to wait till the end of the innings to whether he can come down to even bat or not.

Early on, Pakistan after winning the toss, put the Kiwis onto bat. The Men in Green have Haris Rauf finally in their playing XI as he fully recovered from his injury. New Zealand, who lost Lockie Feguson a day before the start of the tournament due to an injury, has fielded Matt Henry to bolster their pace attack.

At the the time of writing this article, New Zealand were batting at 33/0 after 6 overs of play with Will Young and Devon Conway at the crease.

PAK vs NZ Playing XI

New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William O'Rourke.

Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed