South Africa Show Their Might Against Afghanistan | Champions Trophy '25 Ledger

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February 23, Match 5:

Pakistan vs India

Brief Scores

Pakistan 241 all out. Saud Shakeel 62 (76), Kuldeep Yadav 3/40, Hardik Pandya 2/31.

India 244/4. Virat Kohli 100 (111), Shreyas Iyer 56 (67), Shubhman Gill 46 (52), Abrar Ahmed 1/28.

India won by 6 wickets!

February 22, Match 4:

Australia vs England

Brief Scores

England 351/8. Ben Duckett 165 (143), Joe Root 68 (78), Ben Dwarshuis 3/66, Adam Zampa 2/64.

Australia 356/5. Josh Inglis 120 (86), Alex Carey 69 (63), Matthew Short 63 (66), Adil Rashid 1/47.

Australia won by 5 wickets!

February 21, Match 3:

South Africa Show Their Might Against Afghanistan

South Africa kick off their Champions Trophy campaign in a ruthless fashion, crushing Afghanistan with a dominant all-round display.

Ryan Rickleton led the charge with a brilliant century, while Bavuma, Rassie, and Markram piled on the misery with commanding fifties. All the SA bowlers chipped in with wickets too as Afghanistan's debut in the Champions Trophy didn't turn into a fairytale they would have hoped for.

Brief Score

South Africa 🪙 315/6. Ryan Rickelton 103 (106), Aiden Markram 52* (36), Temba Bavuma 58 (76), Rassie van der Dussen 52 (46), Mohammad Nabi 2/51.

Afghanistan 208/10. Rahmat Shah 90 (92), Kagiso Rabada 3/36, Wiaan Mulder 2/36, Lungi Ngidi 2/56.

News: Pakistan Fined for slow over-rate in the game against New Zealand

News: Fakhar Zaman Ruled out of Champions Trophy, Imam-ul-Haq To Replace him in Pakistan Squad

Fakhar injured himself in the second ball of the match when he chased down a ball heading towards the boundary. He sustained an oblique injury and did not field for most of Pakistan's bowling inning. Imam-ul-Haq has been called upon to replace him in the Pakistan's CT squad.

February 20, Match 2:

Gill, Shami Guide India to victory in their opening game against Bangladesh

Mohammed Shami needed an ICC tournament to show he was back in rhythm. He took a wicket in the first over, and in the blink of an eye, Bangladesh found themselves reeling at 35/5, courtesy wickets from Harshit Rana and Axar Patel along with Shami's second. It could have been 35/6 had Rohit Sharma grabbed an easy catch of Jaker Ali at slip and would have given Axar Patel a hattrick.

As luck would have it, Bangladesh batters Jaker Ali and Towid Hridoy got two more reprieves in the form of a catch drop and a stumping miss. They made the most of it as they stitched a 154-run partnership and took Bangladesh to a respectable total. Towid Hridoy went on to score a century while Jaker Ali also made 68 off 114.

India, in their pursuit of 229, started formidably with Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill's blistering batting in powerplay. However, they were in a bit of bother at 144/4 as the ball was gripping and turning for Bangladeshi spinners Rishad Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Shubhman Gill, though, led the team to victory with his well-controlled 101 off 129.

Brief Scores

Bangladesh 228/10. Towid Hridoy 100 (118), Jaker Ali 68 (114), Mohammed Shami 5/53, Axar Patel 2/43, Harshit Rana 3/31.

India 231/4. Shubhman Gill 101 (129), Rohit Sharma 41 (36), Rishad Hossain 2/38, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 0/37.

India won by 6 wickets!

February 19, Match 1:

New Zealand Brilliant as Ever, Pakistan Disappoint on ICC Event’s Return To Their Soil

Pakistan aren't pushovers, they are a good team. They unearth talent from time to time, and their fans follow the sport passionately as well. So, when an ICC event returned to their soil after 29 years, it was expected that Pakistan would give their fans something to cheer for.

In the first match of the ICC Champions Trophy, that hope lasted only for the first 16 overs when Pakistan had New Zealand at 73/3. Thereafter, New Zealand batters Will Young and Tom Latham went on to score centuries, and Glenn Phillips capitalized on the death overs with his 61 off 39—setting Pakistan a very challenging target of 321.

When it came to batting, Pakistan’s chase never got going. They were 22/2 in 10 overs, 66/2 in 20, and 84/3 in 26 overs. Out of those 26 overs, Pakistan had played 109 dot balls—something they found very difficult to recover from. While New Zealand bowled brilliantly, the Pakistan batters also allowed them to bowl that well with their intent and poor game awareness.

New Zealand, on the other hand, were disciplined, astute, and hunted like a pack. On a turning track, they used their spinners effectively, and their fielding made the target even steeper than it was. Michael Bracewell's 1/38 in 10 overs and Glenn Phillips' flying catch at point highlight New Zealand's ingenious phase in Pakistan's batting.

Khushdil Shah’s 69 off 49 provided late resistance, but by then, the match was beyond Pakistan’s reach. They eventually lost by 60 runs.

Brief Scores

New Zealand 320/5. Will Young 107 (113), Tom Latham 118 (104), Glenn Phillips 61 (39), Naseem Shah 2/63.

Pakistan 260/10. Khushdil Shah 69 (49), Babar Azam 64 (90), Michael Bracewell 1/38, Mitchell Santner 3/66, Matt Henry 2/25.

New Zealand won by 60 runs!

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Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Kane Williamson, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Will Young, Jacob Duffy.

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c) (wk), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Bangladesh: Nazmul Hossain Shanto (c), Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), MD Mahmud Ullah, Jaker Ali Anik (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nasum Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Nahid Rana.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey (wk), Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch.

England: Jos Buttler (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt (wk), Mark Wood.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Farid Malik, Naveed Zadran.