India will face Australia in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Tuesday after they beat New Zealand by 44 runs in the final ground-stage fixture at the same venue on Sunday.
New Zealand, meanwhile, will travel to Lahore to meet South Africa in the second semi-final on Wednesday. Due to tangled schedule, both team already reached Dubai.
According to ICC official, the decision was made to give both teams maximum time to prepare of the India clash, as they are scheduled to play all matches in the Emirates.
However, now New Zealand found themselves in the sub-optimal position of having flown from Pakistan to Dubai recently, only to return to Pakistan soon after.
Back at the game, chasing a modest 250-run target, the Black Caps were bowled out for 205 courtesy of Varun Chakravarthy's five-wicket haul.
The leg-spinner ended up with the figures of five for 42 from his 10 overs to set up a highly-anticipated clash against Australia.
Despite Kane Williamson's 81-runs resistance, the Black Caps were 44 runs short from the target and were bowled out in 45.3 overs.
The experienced batter waged a lone battle against India's spin-laden bowling attack with a gutsy 81 off 120 deliveries, laced with seven boundaries.
Skipper Mitchell Santner (28) and opening batter Will Young (22) were the other notable run-getters for the Blackcaps, while the rest fell cheaply.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner's decision to bowl first paid dividends as their bowling unit dominated the strong Indian batting unit and restricted them to 249/9 in the allotted 50 overs.
The 2013 champions got off to a shaky start to their innings as Kyle Jamieson and Henry decimated their top order – Shubman Gill (two), Rohit Sharma (15) and Virat Kohli (11) – to reduce them to 30/3 in 6.4 overs.
Following the early debacle, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel joined forces to launch recovery as they added a crucial 98 runs for the fourth wicket until the latter fell victim to Rachin Ravindra in the 30th over.
Patel scored 42 off 61 deliveries with the help of three fours and a six.
Iyer was then involved in a brief 44-run partnership for the fifth wicket with KL Rahul before Will O'Rourke drew curtains on his valiant knock.
He remained the top-scorer for India with a 98-ball 79, comprised of four fours and two sixes.
Following his dismissal, India lost two more wickets in quick succession and as a result, were slipped to 223/7 in 45.5 overs.
But, a brisk 45-run cameo by Hardik Pandya down the order bolstered India to a competitive total.
Matt Henry led the bowling charge for New Zealand with 5/42 in his eight overs, while Kyle Jamieson, O'Rourke, Mitchell Santner, and Ravindra made one scalp apiece.
Now, New Zealand are set to take an early-morning flight to Lahore from Dubai on Monday while South Africa will fly back to Pakistan later in the day after having spent around 36 hours in Dubai.
The tangled scheduling was a result of India not playing any of their games in Pakistan for the tournament, and they were supposed to play the semi-finals in Dubai, regardless of their standings in Group A. Such a scenario became all but inevitable after India refused to travel to Pakistan for the tournament.
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