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Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand cricket team defeated Temba Bauma's South Africa by 50 runs in the second semi-final of the ongoing edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which was being played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, on March 5 (Wednesday). With this victory, the BlackCaps have set the date in the Final of this mega tournament against Rohit Sharma's Indian Cricket team that has been undefeated in the tournament so far and even defeated the Kiwis in their previous encounter. Rachin Ravindra won the Player of the Match for his century against the Proteas.
Rachin Ravindra on IND vs NZ Final
The young star Rachin Ravindra was happy to contribute in the team's victory. He said it is important to think about the Final but right now they will focus on celebrating. He said they will switch back and focus on the clash against India after they reach Dubai again.
"It's always great to contribute to the team, an emphatic victory at the semi-final stage and it's very pleasing. I didn't start as well as I wanted, Marco (Jansen) and Lungi (Ngidi) bowled well, once I got going, partnerships with Young and Kane, it started working for me, partnerships with those two, going with the ebbs and flows of the game, the two helped me get going," said Rachin Ravindra in the post-match presentation.
"We were thinking about 300, then Kane started accelerating, then GP, Daryl Mitchell, and the rest kicked on to take us past 350. It's important to think about what next, but it's all about celebrating the win today, Kane with another classy hundred. Once we go to Dubai, we'll switch back and think about the final," he added.
Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson smashed crucial centuries which allowed New Zealand to post 362/6, the biggest total in the history of Champions Trophy. This eventually turned out to be too much for the South African team which collapsed chasing this mammoth of a score.
They will now face India in the Champions Trophy Final and the last time both teams collided in the Final of a Champions Trophy was back in 2000, where BlackCaps came out on top victorious. They would like to repeat that feat again and win their first white-ball ICC trophy in 25 years.
