If the South Africa-New Zealand semi-final match is canceled, then who will play the final against India? This is the ICC's rule.

The first finalist of the Champions Trophy 2025 has been found. Team India won a strong victory against Australia in the first semi-final match played in Dubai and confirmed the ticket to the final. Now the second semi-final match of the tournament will be played today i.e. on March 5 between the teams of South Africa and New Zealand. These two teams will clash at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. So far 3 matches have been washed out due to rain in Pakistan. In such a situation, the biggest question is that if South Africa-New Zealand is also canceled for some reason, then who will play the final.

ICC rules for the semi-final match

The last match played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore could not be completed due to rain and 1-1 points were shared between the two teams. But this will not be seen in the semi-finals. Actually, the rules set by ICC for the semi-finals are quite different from the group stage matches. In knockout matches, ICC tries to get the result of the match at any cost. Something similar will be seen this time as well because a reserve day has been kept for this match to be played between the two teams.

For this match to be played between South Africa and New Zealand, March 6 has been kept as a reserve day. However, every effort will be made to finish the game on the scheduled day. If this is not possible, then the match will start from where it was stopped on the reserve day. Apart from this, Duckworth Lewis rule can also be used to decide the result of the match. But for this, the team batting later will have to play at least 25 overs.

Who will benefit if the match is cancelled?

If the match is not played even on the reserve day and the result of the match is not decided then one team will be out of this tournament. According to ICC rules, the team that is on top in the group stage will secure its place in the final. This means that this rule will benefit the South African team, which was on top in Group B. On the other hand, New Zealand's team was on second place in Group A.