Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: Pakistan will know their bowling needs to step up after two subpar performances against New Zealand in the tri-series. Captain Rizwan confirmed Haris Rauf is fit, but the big seamer will always be more effective and dangerous when he has pressure on his side. This means new-ball wickets will be key: there are few batters more capable of building through the middle overs as Kane Williamson, and few as destructive as Daryl Mitchell.

With plenty of excellent batters either side of that middle order unit, wickets will be at a premium for Pakistan. No excuse for looking off-colour today for the likes of Shaheen and Naseem.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: In the press conference ahead of the opening match, Rizwan said:

“We have options, but if you look at the combination, Babar will continue opening the batting for us in the Champions Trophy. He is satisfied with his batting position. We want to bring genuine openers, but it is our home conditions, we want a left-right combination. Hence, we decided to have Babar Azam as an opener as he is a technically sound batter.”

Babar had a quiet tri-series opening the batting, and will be looking for a step up in his level with the tournament starting.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: Babar has developed into something of an emergency opener for Pakistan cricket in recent months, asked to move around the order after his poor form of late made him less of a sure-shot in the middle order. With some question marks over the opening positions, Babar will likely be elevated to open the batting with Fakhar — both amongst the teams finest batters, but also slightly rusty due to differing reasons. Can they put it all together in time at the CT?

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: After over a year in the wilderness due to some personal friction with the PCB, Fakhar Zaman received a last-minute call back into Pakistan’s team for the Champions Trophy after Ayub’s injury and Abdullah Shafique’s historic three ducks in three matches in the recent ODI series in South Africa.

The CT of 2017, of course, is where Fakhar made a name for himself, scoring half-centuries in Pakistan’s must-win games to reach the finals, before putting India to the sword with his maiden ODI century in a brutal display of hitting.

Fakhar opened during the tri-series, seeing a return to his favoured opening position from number four, where Pakistan great Wasim Akram felt Pakistan were ‘ruining themselves’ by playing him out of position.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: The Kiwis already have a good idea of how to beat Pakistan, having done so twice in the tri-series, once while batting first and again while chasing. More than that, both wins were achieved in dominant fashion, which will be of the greater concern to Pakistan, who were otherwise in pretty good form heading into the Champions Trophy.

Pakistan will be hoping for third time’s the charm for themselves, while New Zealand will back themselves to make it a hat-trick, especially with batters who are as tournament-comfortable as Kane Williamson. For the visiting team, however, it might come down to if an inexperienced bowling attack can find its legs in a big tournament.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: The Champions Trophy format is as unforgiving as it gets. Think back to 2023 ODI World Cup champions Australia, who lost their first two matches of the league stage. No such second-chances here: two losses and you’re done, outside of a mathematical anomaly.

Pakistan will not want to head into the rivalry match against India on Sunday already one loss down, which would only add even more pressure to that crucial game in Dubai. India won’t mind it though — a chance to knock out their fierce rivals in their own home tournament? Yes please, many will be thinking.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: Big-name injuries have been unnaturally common leading into this tournament, with practically every team missing at least one very important player. For Pakistan, as mentioned, it’s Saim Ayub and potentially Haris Rauf, while for the Kiwis, it’s a pace attack with slightly less juice as Ben Sears and now Lockie Ferguson are forced to sit out.

Could this be a tournament defined as much by the players who aren’t there as by those that are? Let’s hope not.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: In preparation for hosting the Champions Trophy, Pakistan wanted their stadiums to be as cutting-edge as possible in time for the tournament. The Gaddafi Stadium in particular underwent major renovations, but there were also improvements made to the National Stadium in Karachi, which will prepare to host the opening game of this tournament with an improved 30,000 capacity and new floodlights.

After some criticisms as Rachin Ravindra was struck in Lahore by a ball, the PCB held its ground, and will now want the tournament to go seamlessly, in particular at their home venues, as they look to make Pakistan a destination for high-stakes cricket in the future.

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: As the Champions Trophy has evolved from the rules of one new ball to two, freedom in fielding restrictions and the introduction of the Powerplay, bowling hasn’t been easy over time, but certain players have made it look easy. New Zealand bowlers need to look up to Kyle Mills, who, with 28 wickets, is the leading wicket-taker in the history of the Champions Trophy. He is, in fact, ahead of some of the biggest and most legendary names this game has ever seen – Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath. Who would have thought, eh?

Pakistan vs New Zealand LIVE Score: Pakistan and New Zealand played their first-ever ODIs way back in 1973, even before the first-ever World Cup. Since then, the two teams have faced each other 118 times, with Pakistan enjoying a slender lead – 61 to wins to New Zealand’s 53. In the Champions Trophy, though, Pakistan and New Zealand have squared off thrice, and guess what? The BlackCaps have won all three of them. Will Pakistan make history tonight? New Zealand beat them in both matches of the recently concluded tri-series, so they definitely have the mental edge. But one thing you know about Pakistan that they can surprise out of nowhere.