Young Kiwi batter Rachin Ravindra scored a splendid century in the ongoing semi-finals of Champions Trophy 2025 against South Africa. The left-handed batter reached his century in the first ball of the 32nd over when he flicked Kagiso Rabada for two runs and got to his fifth ODI century.
Interestingly, all of Rachin’s ODI tons have come in ICC tournaments which makes him the only cricketer to achieve this feat. The century by Rachin Ravindra also made him the fastest batter to hit five tons in ICC events in just 13 innings. Apart from this, Ravindra also became the first Kiwi batter to hit two tons in Champions Trophy.
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Earlier in the day, Mitchell Santner had no hesitation in batting first after winning the toss. The Kiwis went in with the same team while Temba Bavuma was back in the playing XI for South Africa. The winner of the second semi-final being played in Lahore, who will fly to Dubai to play India in the finals on Sunday.
New Zealand batters put team on course of huge total
Rachin Ravindra and Will Young gave their team to a great start as the pair added 48 runs for the first wicket. Both batters made sure to take full toll of the field restrictions against Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi. Against the run of play, Ngidi’s slower ball induced a false shot from Young who offered a simple catch to Aiden Markram for 21 runs.
The second wicket stand between Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra then added 164 runs. That stand came from 154 balls as Ravindra in particular looked to keep the scoreboard ticking with his aggressive batting. The young batter got to his fifty off 47 balls with seven hits to the fence.
Kane Williamson who had scored a brilliant 81 in the last match scored his second successive fifty off 61 balls. South African bowlers looked clueless as the second wicket stand posted 100 runs from 110 balls and needed just 35 more balls to reach the 150-run mark.
Ravindra then got to his ton off 93 balls with 12 fours and a six. Kagiso Rabada then got the wicket of Ravindra in the 34th wicket. Heinrich Klaasen took an easy catch to dismiss for Ravindra who scored 108 off 101 balls with 13 fours and one six.
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