NZ win seals India's spot in semis; hosts Pak exit

Rachin Ravindra's sublime century (112 - 105b, 4x12, 6x1) after spinner Michael Bracewell's 4/26 gave the Champions Trophy its first semi-finalists as New Zealand trounced Bangladesh by five wickets in Rawalpindi on Monday.

- Shantanu Srivastava [e-mail]

NEW DELHI:

The result means India, with two wins like New Zealand, also moved into the last four from Group A while hosts and defending champions Pakistan and Bangladesh were eliminated without a win and with a game left.

New Zealand's encounter against India in Dubai on March 2 will only determine who tops the group.

A victory for Bangladesh could have kept all four Group A teams in play for the semi-final spots, but a clinical chase from the Kiwis put paid to all permutations. The protagonist of the Kiwi chase was Ravindra, who lit up the night with an array of free-flowing drives and deft nudges to ease to a fourth ODI ton. The southpaw, who didn't play the opener against Pakistan after suffering a forehead injury in the field during the tri-series that preceded the tournament, strung together useful partnerships with Devon Conway and Tom Latham.

Chasing a modest 237 on a placid Rawalpindi deck after Mitchell Santner called correctly at the toss, New Zealand maintained a steady tempo despite losing two early wickets to the lively pace of Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana.