After suffering an oblique injury in the tournament's opening match against New Zealand, Pakistan's opening batsman, Fakhar Zaman, will miss the rest of the Champions Trophy 2025. Imam-ul-Haq has been appointed by Pakistan to succeed him.
After hurting himself during fielding, Zaman was forced to leave the field just two deliveries into the match against New Zealand. Zaman tried to stop the ball from clearing the boundary when opener Will Young hit a Shaheen Afridi delivery into the covers, but he was hurt in the process.
Zaman eventually made a comeback to the field in the latter part of the first innings, but his extended absence prevented him from opening the innings. He had trouble running between the wickets even when he batted at number four. In a 47-run partnership off 65 deliveries, he hit 24 off 41 as Babar Azam found it difficult to step up.
Pakistan lost the first match by 60 runs, falling short of their target of 320. The reigning CT champions' next game is against bitter rivals India on February 23. On February 27, they play their last Group A match in Rawalpindi against Bangladesh.
Imam, 29, last participated in the ODI format at the World Cup in 2023 and has not played for Pakistan since then. He has participated in 72 ODIs and amassed 3138 runs at 48.27.