A decade later, they meet again!

Looking back a decade and another Semi-final in 2015, there are some spectacular similarities.

The top four teams playing in the Champions Trophy Semi-finals faced each other in the 2015 World Cup.

Except for the order, the semi-final was played in two different countries, with New Zealand taking on South Africa in the first Semi-final and Australia taking on India in the second.

Ten years later in 2025, we have another India v Australia in the first and South Africa v New Zealand in the second semi-finals to play again in two different countries.

On March 24, 2015, in Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand where South Africa scored 281/5 in 43 overs in a rain-shortened first innings. New Zealand chased the target with 4 wickets in hand to qualify for their first-ever World Cup final.

A couple of days later, Australia dominated India in SCG scoring a massive 328 batting first and bowling out India for 233 to secure a massive win by 95 runs to reach the final.

Only 8 players from the 44 who played in the 2015 Semi-final will feature again in a semi-final against the same team in a different ICC event.

David Miller is the only player who was part of the old team from the South Africa camp, while New Zealand has Kane Williamson and Matt Henry featuring from the 2015 team this time.  Miller scored 49 runs in his explosive innings of 18 balls at a strike rate of 272 to set up a decent total on board for Southa and SA will only wish a similar performance from the only player from the old team.

Kane Williamson was bowled for just six runs and Matt Henry went wicketless in the match. New Zealand would want both their stars to come up with brilliant performances to repeat the result of their 2015 match.

Steve Smith and Glen Maxwell will appear for Australia. India features Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Mohammed Shami in the playing eleven.

Current Australian Captain Steve Smith scored a brilliant century in 2015 and Glenn Maxwell added a quick 24 of 15 to push Australia towards a 300-plus total. Maxwell also bowled a brilliant spell of 5 overs giving away only 18 runs. Australia would not want anything less than that from their Captain and the star all-rounder.

Australia and New Zealand advanced to the 2015 final which Australia went on to win in MCG.

If history repeats, there may be another Australia v New Zealand final in a different 50-over format while India and South Africa will certainly look for a different result to make it to the final. Their current form in the tournament also vouchs for exciting and entertaining matches.

Let’s tune into Dubai and Lahore to see which two teams make it to the Final a decade later!