On Wednesday, March 5, New Zealand and South Africa faced off in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the renovated Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Both sides have experienced heartbreak in previous ICC championships. With two victories and one loss in the league round, South Africa comes into the match with impressive performances. They chased down 180 in just 29.1 overs to defeat England by seven wickets. In the meantime, New Zealand encountered some difficulties in their most recent match, which ended in a low-scoring contest against India. Their batting crumbled as they chased 250, scoring just 205.
Both sides will try to seize their opportunities. According to head-to-head records, the Proteas have won 25 of the 73 ODI matches. These two nations even squared off in the second match of the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series, which the Kiwis won at this ground by a margin of six wickets.
Toss Update
New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first. The Kiwis went with an unchanged team, while the Proteas replaced Tristan Stubbs with skipper Temba Bavuma.
Tristan Stubbs makes way for skipper Bavuma
Temba Bavuma missed the last game against England due to sickness. As a result, Aiden Markram led the side in his absence. Notably, Markram was also dealing with some injury concerns but got fit ahead of the thrilling semifinal encounter which has certainly boosted South Africa’s spirits.
What did the captains say at the toss?
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand):
We are gonna have a bat first, looks like a good wicket, looks a bit dry. Privileged to captain my country and for us it’s to play good cricket. We got the same team. Last game was foreign conditions, we have played a few games here in the tri-series. Will try to play good cricket and put pressure on them.
Temba Bavuma (South Africa):
We are not too concerned but the preference would have been to bat. Just one change, myself, I’m feeling much better. We have had learnings from semi-finals and finals. We need to win the key moments.
ICC Champions Trophy NZ vs SA Playing XIs:
New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke.
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
India
