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India v New Zealand: Champions Trophy men’s cricket final – live

Nathan Green writes in: “Not exactly a great advertisement for the game. To be fair though, it’s not a rank turner. Just four very good bowlers being made to look unplayable.”

Tim Reah writes in: “I can’t wait for the next ICC tournament in Australia…with NZ insisting that they play all their games at the Basin. How enough is this different from a home final for India?”

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Will O’Rourke

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India hold nerve to reach Champions Trophy final

Champions Trophy semi-final, Dubai

Australia 264 (49.3 overs): Smith 73, Carey 61; Shami 3-48

India 267-6 (48.1 overs): Kohli 84; Ellis 2-49, Zampa 2-60

India won by four wickets

Scorecard

India held their nerve to reach the Champions Trophy final with a four-wicket victory over Australia in Dubai.

Chasing 265, Virat Kohli compiled a typically composed 84 after the loss of captain Rohit Sharma and fellow opener Shubman Gill inside the first eight overs.

Kohli – the master of such chases – looked to be easing his side to victory, only to slap to Adam Zampa at long-on when 40 runs were needed from 45 balls.

Australia cannily applied the squeeze but two towering straight sixes from Hardik Pandya in a 24-ball 28 broke the tension.

The swaggering all-rounder holed out with India six away, which left KL Rahul to win the match with a six of his own with 11 balls to spare against the side who beat them in the 2023 World Cup final.

India, supported by a loud, partisan crowd, also held firm excellently with the ball to dismiss Australia for 264 in 49.3 overs.

Australia were well placed at 198-4 in the 38th but fell away when captain Steve Smith, who dug in for 73, and Glenn Maxwell were bowled in the space of six balls.

India’s win means Sunday’s final will be played in Dubai, rather than Lahore as initially planned because of their decision not to travel to hosts Pakistan.

They will play New Zealand or South Africa, who contest the second semi-final on Wednesday in Lahore.

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Hardik Pandya hits back-to-back sixes

Having moved serenely through the group stage, this was India’s sternest test.

Ultimately they came through with another confident victory to continue their quest for a second global title in eight months after they won the T20 crown last year.

The match was probably decided at the end of Australia’s innings. Another 20, even 30 runs, were possible and it may have been enough.

Instead, Kohli was able to steer his side on after Gill was bowled for eight and Rohit Sharma pinned lbw by left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly for 28.

Australia, without Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood here, were always asking a lot of an inexperienced bowling attack. Smith may rue the decision to bat first, given the pitch did not turn as much as expected.

Glenn Maxwell dropped Kohli on 51 but he was otherwise typically assured – the only surprise coming when he was dismissed by Zampa to set up a more tense finish than was expected.

The crowd was quiet when the equation tightened to 24 runs required from 20 balls but erupted when Hardik struck consecutive sixes off Zampa.

India have had plenty in their favour by playing all of their matches in Dubai. They are going to get one more on Sunday.

Smith bowled by full toss

Australia’s innings was built around stand-in skipper Smith.

He came in after Connolly, not in Australia’s squad 48 hours ago, was dismissed for a torturous duck, having been well beaten by six of his nine balls.

Travis Head hit a match-winning 137 when these sides last met in the 2023 World Cup final and threatened again by hitting five fours and two sixes in a 33-ball 39 before chipping the second ball bowled by spinner Varun Chakravarthy to long-off.

That left Smith to nudge and nurdle a rebuild, doing so effectively by rotating the strike in partnerships of 56 with Marnus Labuschagne and 54 with Alex Carey.

The 37th and 38th overs went a long way to deciding the game, however.

Australia were eyeing 320 when Smith advanced towards and missed a Mohammed Shami full toss. Maxwell swept a six off Axar Patel in the next over but was then bowled going back to a quicker delivery.

Only 59 runs came after Maxwell was dismissed – a brilliant run-out of Carey for 61 also crucial.

Shreyas Iyer swooped to collect at short fine leg and hit direct as Carey, who had timed the ball as well as anyone in striking eight fours and a six, returned for the second.

This has still been another strong showing for Australia, who end a long winter that included an epic Test series win over India and victory in Sri Lanka.

Boundary takes Kohli to serene 50

India captain Rohit Sharma: “Until the last ball is bowled, nothing is certain. That’s how this game is. Halfway through the game, we felt like it was a reasonable score and we’d have to bat really bat well to get it because the nature of the pitch was – it didn’t allow you to play how you wanted to play.

“We were very, very clinical with the bat. Yes, we got the runs at the 48th over but I thought we were very calm and composed in our chase.”

BBC commentator Aatif Nawaz: “There is a huge self-assuredness about the way Virat Kohli bats. He doesn’t worry about how many fours or sixes he scores, he just adapts his game to the task at hand. He takes his ego out of the equation completely and delivers for the team.

“He has an instinct for the game and is one of the best to ever do it.”

Australia captain Steve Smith: “I thought the bowlers did a really good job. Our spinners squeezed and enabled us to take the game deep. It was tough to rotate the strike at times but I thought everyone did a good job tonight.

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South Africa decimate England to march into semi-finals

IND

New Zealand chose to bat.

CAN

NAM

Canada chose to bat.

NZ-W

SL-W

NZ Women won by 98 runs

VIC

SOA

South Aust won by 4 wickets

South Africa won by 7 wickets (with 125 balls remaining)

Jansen and Mulder shared six wickets before van der Dussen and Klaasen hit fifties in the paltry chase

Do South Africa have the best attack in the tournament?

South Africa 181 for 3 (Van der Dussen 72*, Klaasen 64, Archer 2-55) beat England 179 (Root 37, Mulder 3-25, Jansen 3-39, Maharaj 2-35) by seven wickets

South Africa confirmed their spot in the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a commanding victory over a hapless England, who ended the tournament winless, captain-less, and on a seven-match losing streak.

After choosing to bat first in Karachi, the most run-laden venue of the event, England played like a side that would rather not. They were bowled out for the lowest total of this Champions Trophy and gifted South Africa wickets in a display of carefree and sometimes careless strokeplay. South Africa were hit by both illness and injury-enforced absences and were not always at their best, but they caught particularly well in the field, paced their chase perfectly, and have plenty of positives to take into the knockouts.

From a bowling perspective, the form of Marco Jansen, who picked up the first three wickets, continues on an upward curve while Keshav Maharaj was effective through the middle overs and Wiaan Mulder cleaned up the tail. South Africa’s batting line-up was without regular openers Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi (both unwell), and Aiden Markram (hamstring injury in the field). Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen both scored half-centuries in a match-winning third-wicket stand of 127. If anything, it gives South Africa a good selection problem going forward while England just have problems.

Having already exited the tournament after their defeat to Afghanistan and with Jos Buttler announcing he would step down as captain, England had nothing to lose and were expected to play with freedom. They showed their intent early when Phil Salt cracked Jansen’s second ball over backward point and smashed the fourth one over midwicket to open the scoring with fours. But, instead of closing out the opening over quietly, he tried to pull the final ball – a short one – also but top-edged it to van der Dussen at midwicket to end his tournament with a total of 30 runs from 25 balls.

Ben Duckett picked up from where Salt left off and scored two boundaries in three balls off Lungi Ngidi but Jamie Smith repeated Salt’s mistake and tamely pulled Jansen to Markram at mid-on. Duckett settled as he was fed balls on the pads but when he tried to clip Jansen fine, he got a leading edge back to South Africa’s destroyer-in-chief. England were 37 for 3 in the seventh over.

That could have become 38 for 4 when Joe Root cut Kagiso Rabada to backward point and though Mulder got both hands to it, he could not hold on. Root went on to nail the drive and the pull and formed a 62-run stand with a confident-looking Harry Brook and England were building solidly. But they could not keep Jansen out of the game. When Brook belted Maharaj over midwicket, Jansen ran to his right from long-on and slid on his knees to take a wonder catch. Four balls later, Root was bowled when he missed a leg-side flick off Mulder and the ball hit his back pad on its way on to the stumps.

At that stage, Buttler, playing his last innings as England captain, had only faced a ball and had a big job on his hands. He received little help from Liam Livingstone, who charged down the track to meet a Maharaj ball but South Africa’s left-arm spinner saw him coming, tossed it up and had him stumped. Livingstone has only made more than 20 runs once in his last seven innings.

By then, England’s effort looked mostly a case of marking time while South Africa stayed focused on searching for wickets. Rabada was brought back at the halfway stage. He beat Jamie Overton first up, then kept him in check by forcing a defensive shot, and then had him caught at mid-on as the batter tried to attack. He looked to whip Rabada over the leg side but chipped the ball towards mid-on where Ngidi ran back and took a one-handed stunner as he hit the ground.

South Africa continued to catch well: Jansen took a low catch at midwicket to see the end of Jofra Archer and Maharaj made a tumbling grab at mid-off to end Buttler’s innings on 21 and give Ngidi his 100th ODI wicket. England were bowled out in the 39th over, and took South Africa’s concerns about a slow over rate with them.

At that stage, South Africa’s semi-final qualification was assured because even if they lost the match, their net run-rate could not dip below Afghanistan’s. That took pressure off the chase but not necessarily off South Africa’s batters, who all wanted runs ahead of an important week. Tristan Stubbs, playing his ninth ODI and first in an ICC event, didn’t get any as he tried to play an Archer ball late but deflected it on to his stumps.

Though his first over lasted ten balls as he struggled to find his line, Archer quickly improved and delivered the rest of his opening spell with good pace and better accuracy. He was rewarded with a second wicket, too, when Ryan Rickelton, who looked confident in his 25-ball 27, was bowled by a delivery that nipped back into him and smashed into middle stump.

From there, it was all South Africa. While van der Dussen appeared at times frustrated by his slower scoring rate than Klaasen’s, the pair complemented each other well. Van der Dussen scored largely through the leg side while six of Klaasen’s 11 fours came through the covers. Klaasen reached his fifty with one of those shots off the 41st ball he faced. It was his fifth successive half-century in the format, which is the joint-highest for South Africa. Van der Dussen’s came off 72 balls as he rocked back to send Adil Rashid through square leg and bring up a second fifty in the competition. Klaasen departed when he tried to smash Rashid over fine leg but outside-edged to short third. David Miller hit the winning runs off the second ball he faced when he smoked Livingstone over the sightscreen for six.

This is the third successive tournament for which South Africa have qualified for the knockouts, after the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Their semi-final opposition and venue will only be confirmed after the match between India and New Zealand on Sunday. They will play the loser of that match either in Dubai on Tuesday (if it’s India) or Lahore on Wednesday (if it’s New Zealand).

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket

Over 30 • SA 181/3

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He also hailed Marco Jansen as ‘the complete package’ for South Africa

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ICC Champions Trophy

Player Name		R	B
RD Rickelton	bowled	27	25
T Stubbs	bowled	0	5
HE van der Dussen	not out	72	87
H Klaasen	caught	64	56
DA Miller	not out	7	2
Extras	(w 11)
Total	181(3 wkts; 29.1 ovs)

Player Name	O	R	W	Econ
JC Archer	9	55	2	6.11
S Mahmood	5	31	0	6.2
J Overton	5	34	0	6.8
AU Rashid	7	37	1	5.28
LS Livingstone	3.1	24	0	7.57

Wkt	Runs	Players
1st	11	Tristan Stubbs	Ryan Rickelton
2nd	36	Rassie van der Dussen	Ryan Rickelton
3rd	127	Rassie van der Dussen	Heinrich Klaasen
4th	7	David Miller	Rassie van der Dussen

Team	M	W	L	PT	NRR
IND	3	3	0	6	0.715
NZ	3	2	1	4	0.267
BAN	3	0	2	1	-0.443
PAK	3	0	2	1	-1.087

Team	M	W	L	PT	NRR
SA	3	2	0	5	2.395
AUS	3	1	0	4	0.475
AFG	3	1	1	3	-0.990
ENG	3	0	3	0	-1.159