SA vs NZ Champions Trophy 2025 Semi-Final: South Africa vs New Zealand Toss & Playing 11 – Santner Opts to Bat in Lahore

Add as a preferred source on Google

SA vs NZ: New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and opted to bat first against South Africa the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final 2, which is taking place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday (March 5).

The winner of this South Africa vs New Zealand semi-final will take on Team India in the Champions Trophy 2025 final on Sunday (March 9) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

As for team news, South Africa welcome back their skipper Temba Bavuma into the line up, while the Proteas also received boost after their stand-in captain Aiden Markram passed the fitness test for the all-important clash.

Bavuma, who missed South Africa's final group game against England, comes into the team, replacing Tristan Stubbs. New Zealand, on the other hand, remain unchanged from their defeat against India, meaning Devon Conway does not find a spot in the eleven. Here is what the captains said and the playing 11 news:

After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, New Zealand captain Santner said, "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."

Meanwhile, South Africa skipper Bavuma, who would have preferred to bat first, said, "We are not too concerned but the preference would have been to bat, our bowlers need to bowl well and then our batters need to do the job."

On the team news, Bavuma added, "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. We are doing a lot of work, lots of confidence, it's another game for us irrespective of it being the semi-final."

South Africa vs New Zealand Playing 11 for Champions Trophy 2025 Semi-Final 2

South Africa XI: Ryan Rickelton, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

New Zealand XI: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O'Rourke.