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.
Heroics from Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra guide New Zealand to a win over Bangladesh 👏#ChampionsTrophy #BANvNZ 📝: https://t.co/EUWoijE9q9 pic.twitter.com/Fl49n8uFxT
— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2025
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 slams a brilliant century on his return to international cricket 🤩#BANvNZ #ChampionsTrophy pic.twitter.com/S24U4l1W50
— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2025
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
INTO THE SEMIS 🤩
— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2025
A third-successive final-four appearance for India at the #ChampionsTrophy 👏 pic.twitter.com/N8kR0rhRMy
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.
New Zealand make it two wins in two games, and are into the #ChampionsTrophy 2025 semi-finals 🤩 pic.twitter.com/UwPpYWPfp5
— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2025
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.
Earlier, Michael Bracewell bagged four wickets as New Zealand restricted Bangladesh to a modest 236 for 9 despite skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto's 77. Bracewell accounted for Tanzid Hasan (24), Mushfiqur Rahim (2), Mahmudullah (4) and Bangladesh's last match centurion Towhid Hridoy (7) to return with impactful figures of 10-0-26-4.
Their dependency on Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah didn't bear many fruits as any of the batters except for the captain Najmul Shanto stayed on the pitch for a longer period before Jaker Ali's crucial contribution down the order. Maybe time to look beyond them now. Shakib Al Hasan was not picked for the competition despite him showing his aim to play 2027 ODI World Cup and so was Litton Das because of his poor form. But nothing much has changed for them as their batting continues to struggle outside home. The Bangladesh unit will play their final game against Pakistan and will hope they will be able to open their account.
Hundreds for NZ in Champions Trophy
145* - Nathan Astle vs USA, The Oval, 2004
118* - Tom Latham vs PAK, Karachi, 2025
112 - Rachin Ravindra vs BAN, Rawalpindi, 2025
107 - Will Young vs PAK, Karachi, 2025
102* - Chris Cairns vs IND, Nairobi, 2000 Final
100 - Kane Williamson vs AUS, Edgbaston, 2017
Three in 24 matches across the first eight editions, three in two matches in 2025.
Highest partnerships for NZ in Champions Trophy
163 - Nathan Astle & Scott Styris vs USA, The Oval, 2004
136* - Nathan Astle & Craig McCmillan vs USA, The Oval, 2004
135 - Nathan Astle & Roger Twose vs PAK, Nairobi, 2000
129 - Tom Latham & Rachin Ravindra vs BAN, Rawalpindi, 2025
Visiting teams with the most consecutive wins in Pakistan
7 - India (2006-2008)
6 - Sri Lanka (1995-1997)
6* - New Zealand (2023-2025)
More to follow...
