India Overcomes Suspense and Nerves to Lift Champions Trophy 2025
India’s One-Day Cricket Team showed remarkable temperament and resolve to ward off a scare by New Zealand during the Final at Dubai, UAE.
Dubai, UAE, March 10, 2025: It was a thriller befitting a final of the ICC’s Champions Trophy. The culminating match of the 9th edition of this international competition saw India come up trumps. But the Subcontinent team’s victory only occurred after overcoming a spirited fight by fellow-finalists New Zealeand, who eventually lost by 4 wickets with an over to spare. In NZ’s posting of a competitive 251 and India’s subsequent chase, the pendulum swung several times - making this an incredibly intense encounter. The match’s result marked an unbeaten run for the tournament victors after they previously beat Bangladesh, Pakistan and NZ during the group stage, and then overpowered Australia in the Semi-final on Tuesday, March 4th. This also marks Team India’s second global championship win after 2024’s T20 World Cup.
In March 9th’s exciting clash, New Zealand batted first with openers Will Young (15 off 23 balls) and Rachin Ravindra (37 off 29 balls) giving their side a brisk start. But with India’s ace spinners in Varun Charkravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav joining the attack, the Kiwi’s lost three wickets in 5 overs. NZ’s middle order batsman Daryl Mitchell pressed on slowly but surely, but his partners continued to struggle against spin. After India’s slow left-arm Ravindra Jadeja trapped Kiwi wicket-keeper batsman Tom Latham LBW, the score stood at 108 for 4 in the 24th over. After Indian pacer Mohammed Shami got rid of Mitchell for 63 (off 101 balls), a couple of defiant innings from Glenn Phillips (34 off 52 balls) and Michael Bracewell (53 off 40 balls), guided the Kiwis to the competitive total of 251/7. This while, Varun and Kuldeep registered two scalps each.
India, in reply, got off to a breezy and robust start with the opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill making 105 runs by just the 19th over. But then India’s momentum was seriously thwarted with three quick wickets. These were: Gill (31 off 50 balls) who was removed by a brilliant catch from the acrobatic Glenn Phillips at cover; Virat Kohli (1 off 2 balls) who was trapped LBW by off-spinner Bracewell; and Rohit Sharma (76 off 83 balls) who got stumped off Ravindra’s bowling while going for an ambitious heave. With India’s score at 122 for 3 and some clever spin bowling from the opponents, the team’s run-rate too started to suffer. But then Shreyas Iyer (48 off 61 runs) along with Axar Patel (29 off 40 balls) steadied the ship. The twosome stitched together a crucial 61-run partnership, but got out to impetuous shots. It was then up to the cool temperament of K.L. Rahul (34* off 33 balls), the belligerence of Hardik Pandya (18 off 18 balls), and the finesse of Ravindra Jadeja (9 off 6), to take India to the finish line.
This Champions Trophy marked an auspicious return of India’s fast bowler Mohammed Shami. After recovering from injury, the 34-year-old shared second spot for most number of scalps in the tournament along with new leg spinner Varun Charkravarthy. The two ended up just behind NZ’s Matt Henry (at 10 wickets to his name). Meanwhile, NZ won a small consolation with all-rounder Rachin Ravindra winning the Man of the Series/Most Valuable Player award for his table-topping 263 runs - beating out Shreyas Iyer’s 243. Though Rohit Sharma got out in untimely fashion, he was still named Man of the Match for his meaty innings. Now, with another victory under Rohit’s belt and age catching up with him, speculation is rife that the 37-year-old Bombay boy might hang up his boots… the same boots that helped him run up over 11,000 runs in ODIs.
