Former England captain Michael Vaughan took an indirect dig at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a surprisingly small turnout in the opening game of the Champions Trophy 2025 between New Zealand and Pakistan. PCB who are hosting an ICC event after 29 years.
Vaughan who is known for his sarcastic posts took his social media to take a brutal dig at Champions Trophy 2025 hosts.
"Great to see the champions trophy being played in Pakistan .. First major event since 1996 .. Have they forgotten to tell the locals it’s on .. Where is the crowd ??" posted Vaughan.
The renovated Karachi Stadium can easily accommodate 30,000 spectators but the pictures circulating all around show that half of the venue is empty.
Coming back to the match, After opting to bowl Mohammad Rizwan-led side got a good start as Abrar Ahmed picked Devon Conway's wicket inside the powerplay. After that veteran batter Kane Williamson got out in the ninth over scoring just one run. While writing this copy, New Zealand were NZ 77/3 in 17 overs.
Playing XIs
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke
Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
