India triumph against New Zealand to top Group A and determine Champions Trophy semi-finals

Varun Chakaravarthy took five wickets as India beat New Zealand by 44 runs and sealed their place at the top of Group A in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

They now know they will face Australia in the first semi-final, in Dubai on Tuesday, while New Zealand will face South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday.

Varun removed opener Will Young, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry for figures of 5/42 as India bowled the Black Caps out for 205.

They were chasing India's earlier total of 249, and looked like they might manage it with a solid 81 from Kane Williamson. Once he went for 81, though, stumped by Rahul and bowled by Axar, the tail crumbled, although captain Mitchell Santner made a strong 28 off 31 balls.

Earlier, India had staged a late resurgence as they reached 249/9 - with a five-wicket haul for Matt Henry after being put in to bat first by the Black Caps.

The stand-out wicket was the third of the innings with a spectacular catch from Glenn Phillips to remove a disbelieving Virat Kohli, which reduced India to 30/3.

Both openers went in the first six overs, first Shubman Gill, trapped lbw by Matt Henry, then Rohit Sharma, caught by Will Young from Kyle Jamieson.

Then Rohit's removal left them on 30/3 in the seventh over.

Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer put together a 98-run partnership off 136 balls for the fourth wicket before another great catch - this time from Kane Williamson - broke it.

Shreyas's 79 was the highest score of the innings before he was caught by Young off Will O'Rourke.

And KL Rahul made 23 before he was stumped by Tom Latham off captain Mitchell Santner.

The next wicket to fall was courtesy of another terrific Williamson catch, diving to his left to take Ravindra Jadeja (16) one-handed from the bowling of Henry.

Henry wrapped up the innings with two more wickets, both in the final over - first Hardik Pandya, then Mohammed Shami with the last ball.

The Black Caps restricted India's run rate impressively; in fact, the 14th over, bowled by Santner, was the first maiden bowled to them thus far this tournament.

However, Hardik's run-a-ball middle-order cameo moved things on to set New Zealand a total to chase.