Srinivas Vijaykumar
Cricviz analyst

South Africa's poor record in knockout matches has been a perennial story. They've lost eight of their last nine knockout matches in ICC Men's ODI tournaments.

Across ICC ODI tournaments, they've won 31% (five out of 16) of their knockout matches - the lowest of all major teams.

Win Percentage in Knockout Matches - ICC Men's ODI tournaments:

India - 67%

Australia - 66%

West Indies - 61%

Sri Lanka - 53%

New Zealand - 41%

Pakistan - 39%

England - 33%

South Africa - 31%

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma: “We weren’t too concerned [with the toss]. Our preference would’ve been to bat and create scoreboard pressure. We’ll have to do the job with the ball and then the batters do it at the end.

“Our learnings from all the other editions, being in semi-finals, it’s winning those key moments in the game. We’ve got to identify them and have an answer to it. It’s not doing anything different to what we’ve done to get to this point. We like to stay true to that but also respect that it’s a semi-final.”

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner: “We’re going to have a bat first. It looks like a good wicket. Hopefully, we can get some runs on the board and see what happens.

“It’s a privilege to captain your country. For us, we need to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re kind of familiar with what to expect. South Africa are a good outfit.

“Last game [against India in Dubai] was foreign conditions, so we wanted to get what we could out of that game. We’ve played a few games here in the tri-series [with South Africa and Pakistan] but we’re coming up against a good outfit. We’ll focus on what we do well.”

Steve Smith has retired from one-day international cricket following Australia's semi-final exit from the Champions Trophy.

The 35-year-old made 170 appearances for Australia in his 50-over career, hitting 12 centuries and winning the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2023.

Smith captained the side in Pat Cummins' absence during his final ODI appearance on Tuesday, when Australia suffered a four-wicket loss to India in Dubai in the Champions Trophy.

The former Sussex batsman will remain available for Test and T20 selection for his country.

You can read more about Steve Smith’s retirement here.

India booked their spot in the Champions Trophy final, which will take place in Dubai on Sunday (March 9), with a four-wicket victory over Australia.

Virat Kohli anchored their chase of 265, top-scoring with 84 (98), before KL Rahul saw his side home with a six with 11 balls remaining.

You can read Matt Henry’s report from Dubai here.

South Africa have made one change, with captain Temba Bavuma, who missed his side's victory over England through illness, returning to the XI in place of Tristan Stubbs.

South Africa XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

New Zealand are unchanged from Sunday's defeat to India.

New Zealand XI: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Will O'Rourke.

Mitchell Santner has won the toss for the third match in a row and has put his New Zealand side in to bat.

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

It’s time for the second Champions Trophy semi-final, with South Africa taking on New Zealand in Lahore.

Who will join India in Sunday’s final?

Let’s find out.