Latham, Young hit tons as NZ smash Pakistan in Champions Trophy

New Zealand upset hosts Pakistan in the opening match of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, defeating the defending champions by 60 runs in Karachi on Wednesday.

Despite having lost to the Black Caps twice in the past 10 days, Pakistan were -400 favourites across cricket betting sites to win their opening fixture of the tournament.

However, it was a masterclass in batting to the conditions by New Zealand, with Will Young (107) and Tom Latham (118*) setting a platform before Glenn Phillips (61) accelerated to take the Kiwis through to 320/5.

Young and Latham’s twin centuries mark just the fifth time in Champions Trophy history that two batsmen have made triple digits in the same innings.

With the pair accumulating slowly after Devon Conway (10), Kane Williamson (1) and Daryl Mitchell (10) fell inside the first 17 overs, it seemed the visitors were set for a score of no more than 270.

While this may well have been par for the challenging batting conditions, wickets in hand meant the Black Caps could swing freely later in the innings.

A total of 96 runs came from the final seven overs, including consecutive 16-run overs, with Phillips adding 44 from his final 18 balls.

The late burst swung live cricket betting odds heavily in New Zealand’s favour, meaning Pakistan were under pressure early.

This only increased when Saud Shakeel (6) and Mohammad Rizwan (3) fell during a slow start that had the home side at 22/2 after 10 overs.

While Babar Azam (64) put on decent stands with Fakhar Zaman (24) and Salman Agha (42) to take Pakistan through to 127/3 at the 30-over mark, the run rate was lagging behind.

Despite Khushdil Shah’s 69, the remaining seven Pakistani wickets fell for 133 runs as the hosts were bundled out after 47.2 overs.

The result has dramatically swung outright betting odds for the Champions Trophy across major online bookmakers.

New Zealand and Pakistan were both on the fifth line of betting at +700 with Nags.bet pre-tournament.

Now, the Kiwis are second favourites at +450 alongside Australia, with only India (+150) sitting on shorter odds.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s price has lengthened significantly, as they are now paying +1400 to lift the trophy.