Lahore [Pakistan], March 6 (ANI): After defeating South Africa in the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Wednesday, former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson lauded opener Rachin Ravindra's exceptional performance in the match.

Rachin was awarded the Player of the Match in the semi-final clash against the Proteas at Lahore's Gadaffi Stadium on Wednesday. The left-hand batter slammed 108 runs off 101 balls, which was laced with 13 boundaries and one maximum in his innings.

Rachin and Williamson built a magnificent partnership of 164 runs from 154 balls before the southpaw was sent back to the pavilion after a marvelous century on the bowling of right-arm seamer Kagiso Rabada in the 34th over.

Williamson also scored a hundred before going back to the dressing room. The right-hand batter smashed 102 runs from 94 balls with the help of 10 fours and two sixes in his innings.

'It's always great to bat with (Ravindra), incredibly special talent. We missed him while he had his little injury for a while there, but he just took a couple of weeks off, came back and is batting beautifully. Great to watch,' Williamson said in the post-match press conference.

'He goes out, and he puts the team first, and he plays with that freedom. When we were out there batting together, there were moments where there were some good spells, and it was a little bit challenging. We tried to feed off each other and keep each other focused on the job,' the right-hand batter added.

Celebrations will be short-lived for the Kiwis. They'll now head back to Dubai, having played India at the same venue of Sunday night's decider only a matter of days ago.

That group stage finale was New Zealand's only tournament loss, and they'll look to learn from that experience.

The Kiwis will lock horns with Team India in the final on Sunday, which will take place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Squads:

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy. (ANI)