Pakistan haven’t been in poor form of late, actually, they have been the only one playing as many as 12 ODIs in the last four months among the eight teams participating in the Champions Trophy. However, losing a couple of matches to the same opposition in the tri-series would sting them a bit. A few days later, Pakistan are back in action against the same opposition, New Zealand. The two teams have played each other a lot, so there is a bit of familiarity but New Zealand having a wood over the hosts would give them a psychological advantage going into the contest.

New Zealand have come close to winning an ICC white-ball tournament quite a few times in recent times and with the women’s team doing it last year in the T20 World Cup, the Black Caps will be keen to turn the tide over in their favour having had a cinderella story, missing out at the semi-finals or the finals stage. The Black Caps have lost two of their original squad members, both pacers, to injuries before the tournament, however, New Zealand still have the strongest squad on paper with an optimum balance of pacers, spinners, all-rounders, anchors, finishers, etc.

Pakistan will have a challenge and the return of a fully fit Haris Rauf will be welcome news for the hosts, who have a pretty solid line-up but have a couple of players, who haven’t played ODI cricket much in recent times. New Zealand definitely start as favourites but Pakistan can’t be taken lightly.

My Dream11 team for ICC Champions Trophy Match 1, PAK vs NZ

Fakhar Zaman, Devon Conway (c), Kane Williamson, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell (vc), Shaheen Afridi, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Haris Rauf

Probable Playing XIs

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam/Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf

New Zealand: Will Young/Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Nathan Smith/Jacob Duffy, Will O’Rourke