Chandigarh 5 march 2025: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and opted to bat against South Africa in the second semi-final of the Champions Trophy here Wednesday.
The winner of the contest will face India, who beat Australia in the first semi-final on Tuesday, in the summit clash in Dubai on Sunday.
New Zealand retained their playing XI for this knockout clash whereas South Africa made one change, with skipper Temba Bavuma coming back into the side replacing Tristan Stubbs.
Loaded with world-class talent but haunted by the underachievers’ tag at ICC events, South Africa and New Zealand have won the Champions Trophy once each in 1998 and 2000 respectively but the tournament was called the ICC Knockout Trophy at that time and didn’t carry the significance which it has now.
While South Africa would look to shed their big tournament “chokers” tag, the Kiwis will also be desperate to lay their hands on a title after having finished second best twice in the ODI World Cup (2015 and 2019) and once in the T20 World Cup (2021).
Teams:
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, and William O’Rourke.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
Summary: In the Champions Trophy semi-final, New Zealand wins the toss and opts to bat first against South Africa.