Kuldeep Yadav draws curtains on New Zealand’s innings by bagging the final wicket in IND vs NZ 2025 Champions Trophy match [Watch]

Team India clinched an easy win over New Zealand in the last group stage match of the 2025 Champions Trophy to seal a date with Australia in the semi-final. Notably, the Men in Blue remained unbeaten to top Group A with six points.

Needing 53 runs to win with just a wicket to spare, New Zealand’s lower-order batter looked to close in on the gap. After Varun Chakravarthy completed his five-wicket haul to leave the opposition reeling at 196/9, Kuldeep Yadav finished the job for India by dismissing William ORourke to draw curtains over the game.

On the first delivery of the over, Kuldeep was hit for a six by Kyle Jamieson. However, the Indian spinner kept his cool, and let out a single off the next ball before eventually dismissing the Kiwi pacer on the third delivery.

Watch India’s winning moment here:

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India to face Australia in Semi-Final 1, New Zealand to face South Africa in Semi-Final 2

With the Champions Trophy 2025 seeing the same four teams, who made it to the final four of the ICC 2023 ODI World Cup, making it to the semi-finals, it’ll now be an interesting race to the finale.

While the semi-finalists were decided after the result of the Australia vs Afghanistan game, the fixtures depended on the outcome of the India vs New Zealand encounter.

Group A’s table-toppers are set to face Group B’s second-placed team, while Group B’s table-toppers are paired against the team that finished second in Group A. Hence, Group B’s South Africa will now face Group A’s New Zealand and Group A’s India will now face Group B’s Australia.

As for the final group stage game between India and New Zealand, Shreyas Iyer stood out with the bat with a 79-run knock, while Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers for his 5/42 in the allotted 10 overs. Matt Henry's fifer and Kane Williamson's efforts with the bat went in vain as India defended their 249-run total.