A top-class century from Rachin Ravindra and a four-wicket haul from Michael Bracewell were at the heart of New Zealand's victory, which also confirmed India's qualification for the last four stage
New Zealand completed a facile five-wicket win over Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on Monday, February 24 to confirm their semi-final berth in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025. (Highlights | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
A top-class century from Rachin Ravindra and a four-wicket haul from Michael Bracewell were at the heart of the victory. The BlackCaps chased down Bangladesh's 237-run target in 46.1 overs, sealing theirs and India's semi-final berths in the process. With the result, hosts Pakistan and the Bangla Tigers were both knocked out of the tournament as the two teams to advance from Group A were ascertained.
New Zealand will next face India on March 2; the match will decide who ends the league phase on top of Group A. As for Bangladesh, they will take on Pakistan in a dead rubber on February 27 before packing their bags.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner called it right at the toss and opted to field first.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Mustafizur Rahman
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William ORourke
"We'll bowl first, looks like a good wicket. We trained a lot in different grounds, but there might be some dew in here. Two changes here - Kyle Jamieson in for Nathan Smith, and Rachin Ravindra is back in. Always good to play in conditions where you will playing an eventual tournament in the lead up," Mitchell Santner said at the toss.
"Would have liked to bowl as well. Two changes for us - Mahmudullah is back in for us. Nahid Rana is in for us as well. Soumya Sarkar and Tanzid Shakib are out. The way we fought back against India after that collapse gives us a lot of confidence," Najmul Hossain Shanto said.
The non-India matches at ICC Champions Trophy are being telecast on the Star Sports 2 and Sports 18 1 TV channels in India, while the India games are being broadcast exclusively on the Star Sports Network channels. All matches of the tournament are being live streamed on the JioHotstar app and website in India.