Rawalpindi:Rachin Ravindra's brisk century guided New Zealand to their second win in a row in the Champions Trophy 2025 as they beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium here on Monday, February 24.
With this win, co-hosts Pakistan and Bangladesh are officially eliminated from the competition while New Zealand and India have confirmed their seats in the semi-final. Sunday's clash between India and New Zealand has become a formality now and it will decide which team will finish at the top of the table. The winner of the New Zealand v India fixture on Sunday in Dubai will finish as Group A table toppers and face the second-placed Group B team in the semi-final.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have suffered two defeats in their respective matches. Pakistan lost by 60 runs against New Zealand and was thrashed by India by 6 wickets. On the other hand, Bangladesh lost against India by 6 wickets in their campaign opener and was defeated by New Zealand in the other match by 5 wickets.
Rachin Ravindra (112) struck a magnificent century on his Champions Trophy debut as New Zealand chased down the target of 237 with 23 balls to spare. Ravindra became the New Zealand player with the most hundreds in ICC tournaments as he completed his fourth ODI century. Notably, all of his hundreds have come in ICC tournaments. He also became first batter to score a century on ODI World Cup debut and Champions Trophy debut
After finding themselves reeling at 15 for 2 in chase of a 237-run target, the Kiwis were in a spot of bother while chasing 238, but Ravindra's partnerships with Devon Conway and Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Latham just took the game away. Latham, like he often does, played a terrific role as second fiddle, and Conway played an important role with Young and Williamson falling cheaply, chipped in with 55 and 30 respectively as New Zealand reached 240 for 5 in 46.1 overs.
Latham forged a crucial 129-run partnership with Ravindra. New Zealand have had 12 century stands in the Champions Trophy, Tom Latham has been involved in three of them (all this edition), the joint-most alongside Nathan Astle.