CT 2025 Semi-Final Line-Up Confirmed: Full Schedule, Match Timings, Venues

The Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final line-up is out! It's India vs Australia in the first Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday while New Zealand will face South Africa in the second semi-final in Lahore on Wednesday.  Varun Chakravarthy led India's charge with a superb 5-42, the best figures by a bowler in the ongoing tournament, as India beat New Zealand by 44 runs in the final Group A match at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. The win means India finish as Group A toppers and will now face Australia in the first semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday, in what is a re-match of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. New Zealand, meanwhile, will take on South Africa in the second semi-final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.

Both matches will start at 2:30 PM IST, while the toss will be at 2 PM.

Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final line-up

India vs Australia, 1st semi-final, March 3, 2:30 PM IST 

New Zealand vs South Africa, 2nd semi-final, March 4, 2:30 PM IST 

After Shreyas Iyer's 79 helped India reach 249/9 in 50 overs, Chakaravarthy deceived the Blackcaps batters with his pace and variations to finish with 5-42 in his ten overs on Champions Trophy debut and bowl them out for 205 in 45.3 overs.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson waged a lone battle through his 81 off 120 balls on a tricky pitch, where he relied on nudges, glances and inside-out shots for boundaries. But with the Indian spin quartet applying the squeeze in middle overs, it meant that the Rohit Sharma & Co continued their unbeaten run in the tournament.

India could have got their first wicket in the fourth over if Will Young's catch wasn't dropped by Chakaravarthy at mid-on off Hardik Pandya's bowling, with the fielder kicking the ball off the boot for four. But four balls later, Pandya provided the early breakthrough as Rachin Ravindra upper-cut to deep third, where Axar Patel took a low diving catch.

Though Young and Williamson hit some tight boundaries, India didn't let them go off the hook as New Zealand made 44/1 in the first power-play. Varun Chakaravarthy, who found enough turn in his first over, got him on the wickets board by having Young inside-edge a googly onto his stumps.

With India's spinners getting lots of turn, Williamson, given a life on 32 by Chakaravarthy, and Mitchell were content in playing the waiting game while hitting boundaries occasionally in their 44-run stand for the third wicket. But Kuldeep Yadav broke the partnership as he got a googly to spin past the inside edge and trap Mitchell lbw for 17.

Williamson hanged around to get his fifty off 77 balls by tickling Jadeja through fine leg for four, and keep New Zealand alive in the chase by hitting an inside-out drive against the spinner for another boundary. But Jadeja bounced back by trapping a reverse-sweeping Tom Latham lbw for 14.

Jadeja could have got Williamson out on 68 if KL Rahul had grabbed the chance. But Chakaravarthy struck twice in his two overs to trap Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell lbw, though replays showed the latter would have been not out as the ball missed the stumps.

The game's result became a foregone conclusion when Williamson danced down the pitch to hit Axar over mid-on, but missed the delivery and was stumped easily by Rahul for a gritty 81 off 120 balls. Mitchell Santner hit some late boundaries in making 28 off 31 balls, till his off-stump was uprooted by Chakaravarthy, who picked a five-wicket haul and effectively sealed the deal in India's favour.

Brief Scores: India 249/9 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79, Hardik Pandya 45; Matt Henry 5-42) beat New Zealand 205/10 in 45.3 overs (Kane Williamson 81, Mitchell Santner 28; Varun Chakaravarthy 5-42, Kuldeep Yadav 2-56) by 44 runs

With IANS inputs 

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Why India Will Prefer Dangerous Australia In CT Semis, Gavaskar Explains

Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has explained why India would prefer facing Australia, rather than South Africa, in the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy. South Africa on Saturday became the final team to book their place in the semi-finals, joining India, New Zealand and Australia. The Proteas topped Group B ahead of the reigning 50-over world champions Australia. India will find out their Champions Trophy semi-final opponents after their final group match against New Zealand on Sunday in Dubai. If India beat the Kiwis, they will take on Australia in the first semi-final on Tuesday at the Dubai International Stadium.

Otherwise, they will face the Proteas, what would be a repeat of last year's T20 World Cup final, which Rohit Sharma and his men won in Barbados. Regardless of who they end up playing against, India will play their semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday.

Gavaskar, while speaking to India Today, said that if given a choice, India would prefer to face Australia as their bowling is slightly inexperienced due to the absence of their fast bowling trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

"Both teams are formidable teams, make no mistake. There's no such team that India will say, because now they know, they've come to the knockout stages. Here it's now make or break, so I don't think they would prefer to have any team. Maybe Australia because they've played Australia, they know Australia a little bit better than South Africa, whom they last played in the T20 World Cup 2024 final. So maybe they might prefer Australia because they are without their main bowlers. There's no Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood so maybe they would want to play them," Gavaskar told India Today.

India has drawn criticism for playing all their match at the same venue in Dubai while the rest of the teams have been travelling to different venues across Pakistan.

However, Glenn Phillips claimed that New Zealand are undaunted by playing their matches across different venues ahead of the final group-stage match against India on Sunday.

"No, for us, there's no focus on anything like that. Obviously, a tournament draw is what it is, and we have a no-excuses mindset to be able to come out to a tournament; you're dealt the hand that you're dealt, and the fact of the matter is India has been dealt that hand, and we've been dealt that hand. And we're never going to complain about what we get, and we'll just do the best with what we've got," he told reporters during the pre-match press conference.

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RCB Suffer Fourth Straight WPL Defeat, DC March Towards Playoffs

Shafali Verma smacked 80 not out as Delhi Capitals handed a fourth consecutive defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru with a commanding nine-wicket win in their Women's Premier League contest here on Saturday. After Ellyse Perry's fourth fifty (60 not out) of the season took the defending champions to a competitive 147/5, DC batters Shafali (80 not out) and Jess Jonassen (61 not out) brushed aside the challenge without much ado.

Chasing 148 to win, DC prevailed with nine wickets in hand and 4.5 overs to spare, consolidating their position at the top of the WPL points table with 10 points from seven games, including five wins and two losses.

Delhi Capitals had, in fact, handed a similar thrashing to Mumbai Indians here on Friday.

RCB, on the other hand, slipped to fourth position with only two wins so far in six matches.

The defeat for the Smriti Mandhana-led side was also third in a row for RCB on their home ground here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Shafali continued to dazzle with her stroke play to make 80 not out off only 43 balls with four sixes and eight fours for her first half-century of the season after falling in 40s thrice in the tournament.

She produced a cracking hit for a six over cover off Georgia Wareham in the 13th over to complete her fifty off 30 balls.

On the other hand, Australia veteran Jonassen produced her second fifty of the season, smacking nine fours and one six to make 61 off only 38 balls to pile up further pressure on RCB.

Earlier, Perry's 47-ball 60 not out was crucial for RCB as it guided them to 147 for five.

Perry not only became the leading run-scorer in the third edition of the WPL but also the competition's all-time highest run-getter with 895 runs in 23 matches at 63.92, going past Meg Lanning (847 runs in 25 matches).

With this knock, the Australian stalwart also became the leading run-scorer in this year's WPL with 295 runs in six matches at 98.33.

Perry dropped anchor to help RCB recover from an early blow in the form of skipper Smriti Mandhana (8) and hit her fourth fifty of the season, scoring 60 from 47 balls with three sixes and as many fours.

Perry also forged strong partnerships along the way, adding 44 runs with England's Danni Wyatt-Hodge (21) for the second wicket and another 68 runs with India's Raghvi Bisht (33) to consolidate the RCB innings.

While Wyatt-Hodge struck one six and two fours to make 21 off 18 balls, Bisht had a successful outing as she made 33 from 32 balls with two sixes.

For Delhi Capitals, India's Shikha Pandey returned 4-0-28-2, while the uncapped Nallapureddy Charani claimed 4-0-28-2. Marizanne Kapp was once again impressive with the new ball, returning 4-0-18-1 for another measly spell.

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