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KARACHI, Pakistan :New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson was ruled out of the Champions Trophy with a foot injury on Tuesday in a major blow for the Black Caps on the eve of the tournament opener against hosts Pakistan.
Former captain Wasim Bari is glad to see the return of a global cricketing event to Pakistan through the ICC Champions Trophy, and hopes that the nightmarish days after the militant attack on Sri Lankan team in 2009 are forgotten forever. Pakistan could not host international cricket for 10 years after that gruesome day, and were forced to play their home matches in the UAE. Bari was serving as the Director in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under the Chairmanship of late Ejaz Butt when the attack took place on March 3 near the Liberty roundabout close to the Gaddafi stadium.
Two-time winners Australia will be on a quest to regain the Champions Trophy title after a gap of 15 years. They had won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009 but have failed to reach the finals in the 2013 and 2017 editions, after which the event was discontinued. For the 2025 edition, the reigning 50-over World Cup winners are placed in the four-team Group B which also includes England, South Africa, and Afghanistan. Australia will open their campaign with a clash with arch-rivals England at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 22.
Former spinner Harbhajan Singh has warned the Indian team to be cautious of Fakhar Zaman in the upcoming fixture against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. India and Pakistan will add another chapter to their famed cricketing rivalry in Dubai on February 23. Ahead of the much-anticipated encounter, Harbhajan warned the Rohit Sharma-led side to be wary of Fakhar, who has the experience to take the game away from India. "Fakhar has that experience, and he can take the game away from India," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
Intrigue, uncertainty, backstage drama. The ICC Champions Trophy has seen it all even before the curtains go up on the tournament and it would only get more stirring over the next three weeks, starting with the opening clash between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi. Eight teams will vie for a trophy, often talked up as tougher to win than the World Cup, and also to script a new chapter in their own cricketing story. While India will fight it out in Dubai, others will be primarily based in Pakistan, which would get to host its first ICC event since the 1996 World Cup.
Pakistan will host a first major cricket tournament in almost three decades from Wednesday in a move hailed as a landmark just a few years after the country was off-limits because of security fears. Staging the Champions Trophy in three cities over the next two-and-a-half weeks will be a huge boost to the South Asian nation's reputation if authorities can pull it off smoothly and safely. "Convincing the world that Pakistan is a safe country and that it is capable of delivering such a global event from an administration point of view took serious hard work and convincing," former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja told AFP.
The high-profile ICC Champions Trophy is all set to begin, with Pakistan taking on New Zealand in the opening clash on February 19. However, the big encounter between India and Pakistan will unfold on February 23 in Dubai when the two arch-rivals go head-to-head in a rare face-off. The Indo-Pak clash also brings about some exciting personal contests. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Mohammed Shami, etc. will all be looking to deliver the best possible for their respective sides.
LONDON: There is nothing atypical about a father going to watch his son play football, even when it is thousands of kilometers from home. What is a little more unusual, however, is when the team is Khor Fakkan and the father is one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time.