The Champions Trophy 2025 will start from February 19. The matches of this tournament to be played between 8 teams will be held in Pakistan and Dubai. Before this, cricket fans will get to see a special series. Actually, the Pakistan team is going to play ODI series against South Africa and New Zealand at their home. This will be a tri-series, in which 3 teams will be seen playing together. The first match of the series will be between Pakistan and New Zealand on 8 February. Considering the preparations for the Champions Trophy, this series is going to be very important for all three teams.
Let us tell you, cricket fans will get to see the tri-series after a long wait. Earlier, a tri-series was played in international cricket in the year 2019, when Bangladesh, Ireland and West Indies were part of the series. Since then, no tri-series has been played in international cricket. At the same time, this is the first time for the Pakistan team that it will be a part of the tri-series. The New Zealand team will also play a tri-series for the first time since 2017. On the other hand, South Africa played its last tri-series in 2016.
Pakistan Cricket Board had decided to hold this series in view of the preparations for the Champions Trophy. The Champions Trophy will start from February 19 in Pakistan itself. In such a situation, all three teams will have a great opportunity to prepare their team combination. At the same time, the teams of New Zealand and South Africa will want to adapt themselves to the conditions here, which can give them a lot of advantage in the Champions Trophy. Let us tell you, the first two matches of the tri-series will be played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, while after this there will be one match and the final match in Karachi. Matches of the Champions Trophy will also be played in Lahore and Karachi
The series will start with a match between Pakistan and New Zealand, which will be played on 8 February at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. After this, New Zealand and South Africa will clash in Lahore on 10 February. Then Pakistan and South Africa will face each other in Karachi on 12 February. After these three matches, the final match will be played between the two teams.
New Zealand team: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, William O'Rourke, Ben Sears, Michael Bracewell, Will Young, Mark Chapman.
Pakistan team: Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper/captain), Salman Agha, Kamran Ghulam, Tayyab Tahir, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Saud Shakeel.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Ethan Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Heinrich Klaasen, Junior Dala, Wiaan Mulder, Mihlali Mpongwana, Senuran Muthusamy, Gideon Peters, Jason Smith, Kyle Verreynne, Keshav Maharaj.
