Varun Chakravarthy’s five-wicket haul and Shreyas Iyer’s cautious 79 off 98 balls helped India comprehensively defeat New Zealand by 44 runs in the 12th match of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai stadium on Sunday.
Chasing a 250-run target, the Black Caps were bowled out for 205 in the 46th over. India’s victory confirmed that the Rohit Sharma-led side will play Australia in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy at the same venue on Tuesday (March 4).
New Zealand will now return to Pakistan to face South Africa in the second semi-final of the tournament at the revamped Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday (March 5).
The Black Caps consistently lost wickets at one end, but Kane Williamson provided resistance. He played a solid innings under tough circumstances, scoring 81 off 120 balls, including seven boundaries.
Will Young (22), Rachin Ravindra (6), Daryl Mitchell (17), Tom Latham (14), Glenn Phillips (12), Michael Bracewell (2), Matt Henry, and Will O’Rourke failed to offer significant resistance with the bat.
Kyle Jamieson scored an unbeaten 9 off 4 balls, including one six.
For India, Varun Chakravarthy (5-42) took five wickets.
Kuldeep Yadav (2-56) picked up two wickets.
Hardik Pandya (1-22), Axar Patel (1-32), and Ravindra Jadeja (1-36) each took one wicket.
Earlier, Matt Henry’s (5-42) five-wicket haul restricted India to 249-9 in the 12th and final group match of the Champions Trophy at the Dubai stadium on Sunday.
After being put in to bat, the Indian batters faced an early collapse, losing Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli for just 30 runs. However, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel rebuilt India’s innings.
Iyer scored a cautious 79 off 98 balls, including four boundaries and two sixes. Patel scored 42 off 61 balls, with three boundaries and one six.
KL Rahul scored 23 off 29 balls, hitting one boundary.
Hardik Pandya smashed 45 off 45 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes.
Ravindra Jadeja scored 16 off 20 balls, including one boundary.
Mohammed Shami scored 5 off 8 balls.
Kuldeep Yadav scored 1 off 1 ball.
For New Zealand, Matt Henry took five wickets.
Kyle Jamieson (1-31), Will O’Rourke (1-47), Mitchell Santner (1-41), and Rachin Ravindra (1-31) each took one wicket.
