Williamson Tonnes and Ravindra set a final date with India.
In Lahore, New Zealand defeated South Africa in the second semifinal to advance to the Champions Trophy 2025 final with a brilliant display with both bat and ball. With the help of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, New Zealand scored a commanding 362.
Ankush Pandey
In Lahore, New Zealand defeated South Africa in the second semifinal to advance to the Champions Trophy 2025 final with a brilliant display with both bat and ball. With the help of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, New Zealand scored a commanding 362. New Zealand won the match thanks to the combined efforts of their spinners, but David Miller's explosive 67-ball century, the fastest in Champions Trophy history, at the very end drastically reduced the winning margin to 50 runs.
From the beginning of the chase, South Africa was under pressure. Kyle Jamieson started off by bowling a maiden after Matt Henry asked some questions. Ryan Rickelton fell early as a result of the shaky start, mistiming Henry's off cutter and hitting it straight to cover. Temba Bavuma, who was batting at 3 off 18 at one point, broke the shackles with a beautiful on drive that reached the boundary after Rassie van der Dussen opened with a boundary first ball.
Bavuma and van der Dussen both collected a few boundaries as South Africa redeemed themselves in that first PowerPlay, even though they only managed to score 36 from the first eight overs. The South Africans were unable to stop the spinners, even though William O'Rourke was the target. Initially, Michael Bracewell continued to bowl clean over after clean. And things became even more difficult for the batting side when Mitchell Santner joined him.
South Africa was still in the game when both set batters reached their respective half-centuries, despite the spin duo's strong start. But when Santner got rid of both batters in a few overs, the chase was over. Before breaking through van der Dussen's defence, Santner had to slow down the pace significantly and squeeze out some turn from this surface to explain Bavuma's dismissal.
Heinrich Klaasen literally needed to do something exceptional at that point for South Africa to pull off a thrilling victory. But in a highly anticipated one-on-one match, the New Zealand captain stood tall for his team once more and defeated the innovative South African keeper-batter, who mistimed one straight to long on. After that, it was all one way. Bracewell finished his spell with a wicket, and then players like Ravindra and Glenn Phillips joined in, taking three more wickets between them.
By then, the contest was dead and buried, and the only reason there was any significant interest left was because Miller might light up the sky with a few big ones. Miller, knowing the result, stunned the opposition and the few people who remained outside with only the tail to bat with. Miller farmed the strike for the majority of the following 24 deliveries, taking on Jamieson and O'Rourke for a barrage of boundaries, and was batting on 47 off 43 by the end of the 46th over.
The South African finisher completed the task when he needed two from the last ball, needing 18 from the last six deliveries for a spectacular century. The loss margin, which at one point appeared to be over 100, was greatly lowered by his valiant efforts.
New Zealand put up a huge total earlier in the day thanks to an effective batting display. Even though South Africa temporarily reduced the run rate after dismissing Will Young, New Zealand regained control once Williamson got going. Ravindra looked excellent from the beginning.
Champions Trophy semifinal lineup confirmed: SA vs. NZ in Lahore, IND vs. AUS in Dubai
Williamson was playing second fiddle, and Ravindra in particular was in a murderous mood as he kept finding the boundary. The pair eventually destroyed Keshav Maharaj, who had been controlling the scoring rate for some time, hitting him for a six apiece. Both batters achieved significant milestones during the process: Ravindra reached three figures for the fifth time in his ODI career, with all five of those tonnes occurring in ICC tournaments, while Williamson reached his fifty off 61 deliveries.
After Rabada left, Williamson took over, with Daryl Mitchell waiting at the other end. The former captain took just 31 balls for his second fifty, repeatedly fetching success with the scoop. He was defeated by that same shot, though, as New Zealand entered the final overs without either of the set batters. Before Mitchell and Phillips went crazy and hammered 83 runs from the last six overs, it did look like South Africa would take advantage of it. This meant that New Zealand had a foot in the final.
Brief scores: South Africa 312/9 in 50 overs (David Miller 100*, Rassie van der Dussen 69; Mitchell Santner 3/43) lost to New Zealand 362/6 in 50 overs (Rachin Ravindra 108, Kane Williamson 102, Glenn Phillips 49*; Lungi Ngidi 3/72) by 50 runs.
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