Fakhar Zaman landed awkwardly during the earlier stages of the Champions Trophy opener between Pakistan and New Zealand.
Pakistan suffered an early injury scare during their Champions Trophy 2025 opener against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday after Fakhar Zaman got injured while fielding.
Fakhar was fielding at mid-off and chased the ball in a bid to stop a boundary. However, he landed awkwardly and eventually injured his knee. Fakhar then made his way off the field, with Kamran Ghulam taking his place. “Fakhar Zaman is being assessed and examined for a muscular sprain and further updates will be provided in due course,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.
Fakhar made his ODI return only in early February during the tri-series involving Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa. He played a knock of 84 against the Kiwis on his return to ODIs and aggregated 135 runs from three matches in the series.
Till date, Fakhar has played 85 ODIs for Pakistan and has scored 3627 runs at an average of 46.50. He has amassed 11 centuries and 17 fifties in the 50-over format for the Men in Green. Fakhar played a crucial role in helping Pakistan beat India in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England. He amassed 114 runs from 106 balls to power Pakistan to 338/4 in the final against India. In reply, the Men in Blue were dismissed for 158 as Pakistan completed a 180-run victory.
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Coming back to this match, pacer Shaheen Afridi was bowling the first over of the Champions Trophy opener after Pakistan opted to field first. At the time of updating this report, the Black Caps were 75/3 in 16.4 overs. Will Young (49*) and Tom Latham (2*) were the unbeaten Kiwi batters in the middle at the time.
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