Lahore, March 5: New Zealand set up a meeting with India in the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai after beating South Africa by 50 runs in the second semifinal at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Wednesday.

After Rachin Ravindra smashed his fifth ODI hundred and second ton of the tournament and Kane Williamson notched up his third century in a row against South Africa to take New Zealand to 362/6, the highest total in the competition’s history, the Proteas ended up at 312/9, with David Miller’s unbeaten century coming off 67 balls going in vain.

For the Blackcaps, captain Mitchell Santner broke the back of South Africa’s chase with 3-43, while Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry took two wickets each. Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra bagged a scalp each as New Zealand got a clinical win and will now meet India for the second time in this tournament.

Chasing 363, the in-form Ryan Rickleton began by hitting four early boundaries before he was undone by Matt Henry’s cutter, and the leading edge was caught by short-cover in the fifth over. Temba Bavuma was struggling to get going, as seen from him being three off 18 balls, before breaking the shackles by hitting a four each off Henry and Kyle Jamieson.

While van der Dussen took two fours off Henry, Bavuma pulled Jamieson over square leg for six. After the duo took a four each off William O’Rourke, Bavuma brought up South Africa’s hundred by going inside-out against Michael Bracewell for four and got his seventh ODI fifty in 64 balls.

Shortly after, van der Dussen brought up his third consecutive fifty with a single as South Africa’s chase got a stable look, especially with Bavuma’s catch being dropped by Kane Williamson at short mid-wicket. But in the 23rd over, Bavuma looked to slice a flighted delivery from Santner but was caught at backward point for 56. Three overs later, Santner struck again as he got one to turn enough and castled van der Dussen for 67. In his next over, he landed a huge blow to South Africa’s chase by having Heinrich Klaasen pull to Henry at long-on, though he injured himself after landing on the right shoulder.

From there, South Africa’s slide in the chase began – Rachin Ravindra held on to a chip from Aiden Markram’s bat off his own bowling, Wiaan Mulder miscued a slog-sweep to deep square leg off Bracewell and had Marco Jansen trapped lbw by Glenn Phillips, who later had Keshav Maharaj caught behind.

Despite Rabada hitting two boundaries in his 22-ball 16 and David Miller carting bowlers all around the park to complete a century on the last ball of the innings, it wasn’t enough for South Africa to stop New Zealand from progressing into the Champions Trophy final.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 362/6 in 50 overs (Rachin Ravindra 108, Kane Williamson 102; Lungi Ngidi 3-72, Kagiso Rabada 2-70) beat South Africa 312/9 in 50 overs (David Miller 100 not out, Rassie van der Dussen 69, Temba Bavuma 56; Mitchell Santner 3-43, Glenn Phillips 2-27) by 50 runs

New Delhi, March 4: As India and Australia prepare for yet another high-stakes ICC knockout clash, former Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik believes Men in Blue have been the standout team of the Champions Trophy 2025 so far.

Speaking ahead of the much-anticipated semi-final on Tuesday, Karthik stated that India has played solid cricket throughout the tournament and should have no trouble advancing—provided they maintain their current form.

“The quality of India’s cricket has probably been the best of the tournament. They have played solid cricket and if they can keep that going, I don’t see any reason they can’t win,” Karthik told Sky Sports.

However, despite India’s dominance, Karthik acknowledged a key factor that could disrupt their plans—Travis Head. The Australian left-hander has been a thorn in India’s side in major finals, earning the nickname “Travis Headache” from former India coach Ravi Shastri.

Adding to the challenge for India, Head was also instrumental in Australia’s World Test Championship final victory over them last year, scoring a brilliant 163 at The Oval.

“Ravi Shastri has nicknamed him Travis ‘Headache’ as that’s what he has been for India in almost every big game. The tempo he has played at, the speed at which he has scored, has been disruptive for India and eased the pressure on the other Australia batters,” Karthik added.

Australia, the reigning ODI World Cup champions, head into the semi-final missing several key players, including Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh, and Marcus Stoinis.

Despite their depleted squad, former England skipper Nasser Hussain believes that the Australians are wired differently when it comes to big-stage cricket.

“Australia won’t be bottling it. They are missing players, but their record in ICC events is fabulous. Everyone in that dressing room will have grown up watching a Steve Waugh side, a Ricky Ponting side, a Cummins side—and realized they are born to win these things. They are not here to make up the numbers, and they will believe they can overcome a very strong India side,” said Hussain.

Dubai, March 4: Former skipper Ricky Ponting backed youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk to replace injured Matt Short at the top of Australia’s batting order for their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final clash against India on Tuesday.

Short was ruled out due to an injury to his left quadriceps which he sustained during Australia’s washed out Group B game against Afghanistan. His absence promotes travelling reserve Cooper Connolly into the squad.

Connolly is a powerful hitter and also a capable off-spin bowler, proving to be a like-for-like replacement but Ponting is putting his faith in Fraser-McGurk, who has so far made seven appearances for Australia in ODIs, hitting at a strike-rate of 132l, averaging just 14 runs with a top score of 41.

“He can slot straight into that position. To be honest, that’s the way I would probably go and just hope that he has one of his days because in games like these, the semi-finals, must-win, big games, you need to throw caution to the wind,” Ponting said in the latest edition of The ICC Review.

“I think he’s the sort of player that if you back him, and give him an opportunity, he might just be good enough to win a big game for you like that,” he said.

Ponting give Fraser-McGurk the nod partially due to his excellent performance in the IPL in 2024, where he finished with a strike-rate of 234 from nine innings.

“He probably has been a little bit disappointed with his output in the opportunities that he’s had in the last six months. So this might just be the game where he can do something…like he did in the IPL with the Delhi Capitals last season,” Ponting added.

Ponting also suggested some potential alternatives, including the batters that already feature in Australia’s playing XI at the Champions Trophy.

“They could even move Steve Smith up there and open the batting. He’s done a terrific job when he’s opened in T20 cricket the last couple of years. He’s a good player of fast bowling, which was one of the points I made before trying to negate that new ball and get through to those middle-overs.

“They could put Josh Inglis up there if they wanted to, and then leave someone like Cooper Connolly as another left-hander in the middle order that could give them some spin options,” he concluded.