Pakistan suffered a setback in preparations for the coming Champions Trophy as they lost by five wickets to New Zealand in the tri-nation series final on Friday. The defeat, which took place at the same ground where the two sides will clash on February 19 for the opening match of the tournament, was a huge disappointment for the hosts. But an uncanny moment overshadowed the action when play was momentarily interrupted as a black cat strayed onto the field in Karachi.
The strange encounter was during New Zealand’s pursuit of their target. The game was paused for a few minutes until the cat ran across the line and took a quick lie down in an area away from the playing field. Previously, also when Pakistan’s team was batting, cameras had spotted a kite following the cat while unwittingly driving it to run on the field.
Watch:
We’ve got some feline company enjoying cricket on the ground 🐈⬛🤩#3Nations1Trophy | #PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/Nx2RMmzA82
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 14, 2025
Former New Zealand pacer Danny Morrison, who was on commentary, reacted humorously to the situation, remarking, “The Black Caps are joined on the field by the black cat.”
Despite the loss, Pakistan vice-captain Salman Ali Agha, who had scored a century against South Africa in the previous match, was named ‘Player of the Series’ for his performance, amassing 219 runs and taking one wicket.
“I batted well. We wanted to win, but that did not happen. The attention will be on the CT. [Surface] This can be expected from Karachi. One wicket will be a belter, one will be two-paced. I enjoy batting. It was a difficult pitch to bat on. The pitch was seaming. It was a 280-290 wicket. We were 30 runs short. But my wicket and then Rizwan’s wicket took the game away from us,” Agha said at the post-match presentation.
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan looked back at the team’s weaknesses and how they tried to prepare for the Champions Trophy.
“We were planning to bat first because we were thinking that in the second half, the pitch would be challenging. But their bowlers put a pressure on us. We were aiming to reach 280 but they reversed it. We were 15 runs behind. They were bowling superbly. Me and Agha were trying to form the stand. We attempted doing that but they were not offering us the balls. We maintained the target at 280, not 300. My wicket was significant. [Fielding] We need to bring the improvement. This is one department where we are missing. [Abrar] He has actually improved a lot. The others have to improve as well. [CT’25] We also wanted to prepare for the 19th. So that’s why we wanted to bat first as well,” Rizwan mentioned.
Pakistan will now turn attention to their Champions Trophy campaign with the hope of fixing their issues prior to the pivotal tournament opener against New Zealand.
