ICC Champions Trophy 2025: ICC penalizes Pakistan for slow over rate against New Zealand

New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 60 runs in the first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Hosting an ICC tournament after 29 years, Pakistan had a nightmare start to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, losing to New Zealand by 60 runs in Karachi.

Bowling first, Pakistan looked clueless against Tom Latham and Will Young, who both scored centuries to power the Kiwis to a massive total of 320 runs.

In the chase, the hosts showed lacked intent and finished the batting powerplay with just 22 runs on the board. Star batsman Babar Azam was criticized for his conservative knock, as he scored 64 runs off 90 balls.

Their troubles have been exacerbated by Fakhar Zaman’s back injury which has ruled him out of the tournament. He will be replaced by experienced opener Imam-Ul-Haq in the squad.

The hosts have now suffered another dent, this one financially.

ICC penalizes Pakistan for slow over rate against New Zealand

The hosts have now been fined for slow over rate in the tournament opener against New Zealand after being found one over short of the target, even after time allowances were considered. The players have been fined five percent of their match fee.

Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan pleaded guilty to the offence. Hence, no formal hearing was required.

According to Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, players are fined five percent of their match fee for each over their team fails to bowl within the allotted time.

Pakistan will now travel to Dubai to face arch-rivals India on February 23. They will end their Champions Trophy group stage campaign against Bangladesh on February 27 in Rawalpindi.

A loss to India will all but knock Pakistan out of the competition.

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