India win Champions Trophy to extend white-ball dominance

Rohit spearheads tricky chase; Rahul, spinners too impress as India seal 2nd consecutive ICC Trophy win
DUBAI: These are the moments that Indian cricket fans live for. Soon after Ravindra Jadeja pulled Will O'Rourke for a four to seal India's triumph in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday night, the Saurashtra man blew a kiss towards the dressing room, where a joyous Virat Kohli and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar were hugging each other.
Just a while later, Kohli and Indian captain Rohit Sharma -the two pillars of Indian cricket about whose future much has been speculated recently-indulged in a 'dandiya' celebration with the stumps, breaking into a little jig. Jadeja, meanwhile, blew a kiss to the dressing room and jumped into a warm embrace with his partner-in-the-end KL Rahul (34 not out, 33b, 1x4, 1x6), whose previous scores at No 6 in the tournament have been 41*, 23 & 42*.

It wasn't easy against a spirited New Zealand in a nervy final, but in the end, India were just too good, and the deserving champions of the 2025 Champions Trophy- a title they have won for the third time. The best team of the competition by a mile, India won all their five games without a fuss, ignoring the chatter around the unfair advantage they supposedly had due to playing all their games at one venue. After clinching the T20 World Cup in West Indies last June, this is India's second white-ball event in two years under Rohit's captaincy. They seem to have finally broken their jinx of losing at the knockout stages of ICC events.
The triumph offers Rohit the perfect opportunity to take a big decision on his glorious career, but for now, he, the rest of the Indian team and the millions of fans of India cricket must soak the taste of victory, which eases the pain of defeats in the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy to Pakistan and the 2019 World Cup to Australia.
Ironically, it was Rohit who led India's charge towards the win, stroking a sublime 76 (83b, 7x4, 3x6), with in-form middle-order batters Shreyas Iyer (48, 62b, 2x4, 2x6), Rahul, Axar Patel (29, 40b, 1x4, 1x6) and Hardik Pandya (18, 18b, 1x4, 1x6) all playing crucial roles to take the Men-in-Blue home in 49 overs for a four-wicket win against a New Zealand who were badly missing pacer Matt Henry-the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Rohit gave India the perfect stand, dominating the Kiwi attack with his delightful shots in a 105-run opening stand with the in-form Shubman Gill (31, 50b, 1x6) in 112 balls. However, they then suffered a collapse, losing three wickets for 17 runs in 51 balls, as the Kiwis fought back with vigour, after initially looking like they were on their way to a convincing defeat.
A sensational catch by Glenn Phillips-who has made it a habit to grab blinders-at short extra cover to send back the in-form Gill off skipper and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner gave the Black Caps their first breakthrough in the 19th over. Soon, Virat Kohli (1)was trapped lbw while trying to play across to a Michael Bracewell delivery.
Having shown the patience to score his first half-century of the competition, Rohit was guilty of throwing his wicket away when he danced down the track to Rachin Ravindra, but was stumped by a mile.
However, the consistent, unsung Iyer, who benefited as he was dropped on 44 by Kyle Jamieson at long-on off an agitated Phillips in the 37th over, put on 61 for the fifth wicket in 75 balls with Axar to keep India's Champions Trophy dream alive and kicking.

Iyer perished, caught at short fine by Ravindra off Santner, but with finishers like Rahul and Pandya, who added 38 in 36 balls for the sixth wicket to almost round off the chase, in their ranks, India were not to be denied on Sunday night.
Earlier, capitalising on the conditions superbly yet again, India's spinners turned up the heat, but, riding on contrasting half-centuries by Daryl Mitchell (63, 101b, 3x4) and Michael Bracewell (53 not out, 40b, 3x4, 2x6), New Zealand fought their way back from a turbulent phase to score 251 for seven after opting to bat first.
All four of India's spinners-Kuldeep Yadav (2-40 in 10 overs), Varun Chakaravarthy (2-45 in 10 overs), Jadeja (1-30 in 10 overs) and Axar (29-0 in eight overs) were outstanding with the ball-conceding just 144 runs in 38 overs while taking five wickets on a slowish pitch. While Kuldeep and Varun got more purchase off the track, Jadeja and Axar concentrated on keeping things tight by bowling flatter and faster. However, enduring a rare off-day, India's pacers Mohammed Shami (1-74 in nine overs), who really struggled to find his rhythm on Sunday, and Hardik Pandya (0-30 in three overs) conceded 104 in 12 overs, thus undoing the good work of the tweakers.

India didn't help themselves by dropping as many as four catches, with Shami (dropped a caught and bowled chance that Ravindra offered in the seventh over), Shreyas Iyer (Ravindra again being the beneficiary, in the eighth over at deep mid-wicket off Varun), skipper Rohit Sharma (grassed Mitchell at mid-wicket off Axar) and Shubman Gill (dropped Phillips at deep mid-wicket in the 36th over) being the culprits.
Fired by Ravindra (37, 29b, 4x4, 1x6) and the left-handed opener's 57-run stand in just 47 balls with Will Young (15), the Black Caps should've ended up with a far bigger total, before Varun, who was introduced in just the sixth over, earned the first breakthrough for India when he trapped Young in front of the wicket in the eighth over with a superb leg-break. It was then the turn of Kuldeep, who came into the attack in the 11th over, to turn the tide towards India with his very first ball as he castled the dangerous-looking Ravindra with a brilliant googly, much to India's relief.
In his second over, Kuldeep netted an even bigger fish, as former Black Caps captain Kane Williamson (11 of 14 balls), came forward and prodded at the Chinaman bowler, only to spoon back the ball back to him.
However, No 7 Bracewell, who had smashed a blazing 140 off just 78 balls against India at Hyderabad in the first ODI in Jan 2023, produced a wonderful knock at the back end of the innings, helping the Kiwis plunder 79 off their last 10 overs -50 off the last five-to put up a fighting total.