On Wednesday, March 5, New Zealand and South Africa faced off in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2025 at the renovated Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Both sides have experienced heartbreak in previous ICC championships. With two victories and one loss in the league round, South Africa comes into the match with impressive performances. They chased down 180 in just 29.1 overs to defeat England by seven wickets. In the meantime, New Zealand encountered some difficulties in their most recent match, which ended in a low-scoring contest against India. Their batting crumbled as they chased 250, scoring just 205.
Both sides will try to seize their opportunities. According to head-to-head records, the Proteas have won 25 of the 73 ODI matches. These two nations even squared off in the second match of the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series, which the Kiwis won at this ground by a margin of six wickets.
Update on Toss
After winning the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first. The Proteas substituted captain Temba Bavuma for Tristan Stubbs, but the Kiwis kept their squad the same.
Captain Bavuma is passed by Tristan Stubbs.
Due to illness, Temba Bavuma was unable to play in the most recent match against England. Consequently, in his absence, Aiden Markram took the lead. Notably, Markram was also battling some injury issues, but he recovered in time for the exciting semifinal match, which has undoubtedly lifted South Africa’s morale.
At the toss, what were the captains saying?
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand):
We are gonna have a bat first, looks like a good wicket, looks a bit dry. Privileged to captain my country and for us it’s to play good cricket. We got the same team. Last game was foreign conditions, we have played a few games here in the tri-series. Will try to play good cricket and put pressure on them.
Temba Bavuma (South Africa):
We are not too concerned but the preference would have been to bat. Just one change, myself, I’m feeling much better. We have had learnings from semi-finals and finals. We need to win the key moments.
India
