Champions Trophy 2025: Why Rachin Ravindra is not playing Match 1 against Pakistan?

Pakistan and New Zealand take on each other in Match 1 of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the National Stadium in Karachi. Both the teams played each other in the recently concluded final of the Tri-Nation series and the latter emerged victorious. After five days, they meet again and this time the stakes are high and the coveted title remains the ultimate goal. 

Pakistan captain, Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Haris Rauf, who had sustained a muscular strain in his lower chest wall is back in the team. On the other hand, New Zealand skipper, Mitchell Santner revealed that Matt Henry is back in the team as Rachin Ravindra has been left out to recover from the injury sustained during the Tri-Series. 

“We will bowl first. Seen the last couple of matches dew comes in later, so want to maximise on that. We are the defending champions so will be under a bit more pressure, but we will treat it like the previous tri-series. Playing in Pakistan will be great as well. Haris Rauf is fit again so he's back in,” Rizwan during the toss. 

“The dew gets on later, but we have a job to do with the bat. Looks like a good wicket. We have a good mix of experience and new faces and are playing some good cricket as well. We have been lucky to play these guys home and away, so we know each other well. What's most important is getting used to the conditions here in Karachi. The injuries we've had are unfortunate, but are confident with the boys that we have out here. Matt Henry comes back in for us,” said Santner during the toss

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke.

Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.