Islamabad, Feb. 13 -- Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, the winning captain of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, spoke on how batting of openers Fakhar Zaman and a more "mature" Babar Azam will help the hosts in their title defence starting from February 19 onwards.

Pakistan will kickstart the Champions Trophy with the tournament opener against New Zealand at Karachi on February 19. This time around, Pakistan is going with the duo of Fakhar, the team's centurion in the 2017 final against arch-rivals India, and Babar as openers.

Speaking on the team composition, Sarfaraz, who last played an ODI for Pakistan back in 2021 and an international match in 2023, said as quoted by ICC, "Pakistan has a really good chance of defending that titl...