DUBAI, 2 MAR

Shreyas Iyer’s pressure-defying fifty and Varun Chakravarthy’s spin masterclass helped India script a 44-run win over New Zealand on Sunday to top Group A, setting up the semifinal against Australia in the Champions Trophy.

Iyer made a composed 79 off 98 balls under pressure but New Zealand, led by pacer Mark Henry (5/42), managed to stifle India to an under-par 249 for nine.

Chasing 250 was not a tall order for New Zealand’s capable batting unit but they struggled against India’s spin quartet led by Chakravarthy (5/42) to be all out for 205 in 45.3 overs. Kane Williamson's gritty 81 went in vain.

India will face Australia, who finished second in Group B, in the first semifinal here on Tuesday while the Kiwis play South Africa in the other semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday.

As they have been doing throughout this tournament, the Indian spinners placed efficiency ahead of wizardry, and bowled in a manner suited to the conditions.

Ravindra Jadeja found massive turn off the pitch but the New Zealand batters were done in by the effort from Chakravarthy who relentlessly targeted the stumps.

Spinners took over once Hardik Pandya got rid of Rachin Ravindra early.

Williamson, who was dropped on 17 by stumper KL Rahul off Axar Patel, played a refined innings full of placements and elegance, but there hardly was any support for him from the other end.

There was a 44-run alliance between him and Daryl Mitchell for third wicket, but just as it was blooming Kuldeep Yadav trapped the latter in front.

They lost Tom Latham (14), Glenn Phillips (12) and Michael Bracewell (2) in quick succession, however, Williamson remained unruffled by the rumblings.

He used soft hands for deft placement of balls through the gaps, but two lofted cover drives off Jadeja for fours adorned his innings like bright diamonds.

But Axar deceived an on-charge Williamson with a slightly fuller and slanted delivery, and Rahul just had to remove the bails from the stumps.

The dismissal effectively sealed the match in favour of India.

Earlier, Iyer shared a well-paced 98 runs alliance with Axar (42 off 61 balls) for the fourth wicket and Hardik (45 off 45) played a quick-fire innings towards the end to help India survive a top-order meltdown.

It was a slightly different situation for Iyer as in the last few matches, the top three batters had given him the cushion of runs. It had enabled him to bat with some degree of freedom in those matches.

But here he had to build the innings from the scratch and he did that job with perfection while making fifty off 75 balls with a single off Ravindra. The natural flair was on show on occasions as Iyer once lofted pacer Will O’Rourke for a six over long on and Axar gave him excellent company on a rather slow pitch.

But Axar departed against the flow of the game when his attempt to scoop Ravindra over short fine leg ended in the hands of Williamson. A century was there for the taking for Iyer but a feeble pull off O’Rourke was gobbled by up Will Young inside the covers.

Rahul, who now bats at a rather inexplicable No 6 slot, looked promising while making 23 off 29 balls that contained a brilliant hit over long-on for a six off Ravindra.

But Latham latched on to a lovely catch behind the stumps off the edge off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who once again came up with a good spell that contained a series of speed off balls at just over 70 kmph.

Those dismissals hurt India but Hardik, who produced some beefy hits, ensured that India reached near the 250-mark. Before Iyer's rescue act and Hardik's fire, India were tottering at 30 for 3 with skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli getting out cheaply.