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New Zealand will take on India in the final of the Champions Trophy after centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson enabled them to outmuscle South Africa in their Lahore semi-final.
The Black Caps piled on the pressure with a new tournament-record score of 362 for six, Ravindra with 108 and Williamson adding 102, and their bowlers finished the job in clinical fashion to seal a comfortable 50-run win.
Their captain, Mitchell Santner, took a crucial three for 43 with the ball and his side will now depart for Dubai – which is hosting the tournament’s showpiece game due to India’s ongoing political tensions with Pakistan. Awaiting them on Sunday is a rerun of the 2000 final, which they won by four wickets.
Santner opted to bat first on a fine-looking pitch that promised plenty of runs and his batters delivered in style. Lungi Ngidi removed Will Young for 21 in the power play, but that breakthrough merely brought together Ravindra and Williamson for a 164-run partnership that built their side a formidable foundation.
Both men maintained a strike-rate of better than a run per ball as the Proteas failed to find a way through. Ravindra hit 13 fours and a six and his experienced partner cleared the ropes twice alongside hitting 10 boundaries. Heinrich Klaasen dropped Williamson on 56, and the pair were not parted until the 34th over when Kagiso Rabada finally drew an edge from Ravindra.
Williamson carried on the momentum as he brought up his 15th one-day international hundred with a cheeky ramp off Wiaan Mulder, who exacted revenge four balls later when Ngidi held on at short leg. Any hopes South Africa had for a strong finish disappeared as they leaked 110 from the last 10 overs, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips both hitting rapid-fire knocks of 49.
Charged with producing the biggest chase in Champions Trophy history, Temba Bavuma’s side stumbled to 312 for nine. At 125 for one, the innings looked to have legs but Santner’s left-arm spin turned things decisively for his team when he dismissed Bavuma (56), Rassie van der Dussen (69) and the in-form Klaasen for only three.
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David Miller completed an unbeaten 100 off the very last ball of the match but, with a regular flow of wickets at the other end, his knock never came close to making the Black Caps sweat.
