KL Rahul, with another ice-cool hand under pressure, raised his arms and started the celebration. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh were the first ones to sprint to the middle and were followed by Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar as the senior players celebrated with head coach Gautam Gambhir right outside the change room.
The fireworks began, players draped in the tri-colour, the crowd grooved to the tunes of “Lehra do” and “Chak de India” as unbeaten India finished the job with an over to spare in the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium. It wasn’t a stiff target, 252 runs, but the sluggish surface meant there were just enough ups and downs.
There was drama in store during the half-way stage of the chase as after two tight overs, Rohit Sharma decided to jump out of his crease against Rachin Ravindra in the 27th over but made a huge mess and was stumped for a 83-ball 76. The crowd, which had found its voice thanks to the opener’s blazing start, was reduced to pin-drop silence as he dragged himself back to the change room.
For most of that walk, his head remained down and the thousands in the stands couldn’t believe what they just saw. India were reduced to 122/3, from a comfortable 105/0 and the quick wickets brought New Zealand back in the game, thanks to familiar approach – the spin choke.
India were blazing away during their pursuit of the 252-run target and Rohit walked the intent talk as he went after everything from word go. There hops out of the crease to manufacture strokes, a neat pickup, exquisite cover-drive and some delightful strokes during the half-century which set the tone for the chase. His partner Shubman Gill was happy to play the waiting game from the other end as Rohit continued to farm most of the strike, and score bulk of the runs at a brisk pace.
It had been the approach which he has been following for the last two years now but Sunday’s final was the rare occasion where he shifted gears and looked to bat when the run-making was difficult vs spin. The likes of Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra sucked momentum out of the Indian innings but enough depth in batting featuring quality players of spin ensured there was no late drama in store.
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When Shreyas Iyer combined with Axar Patel, the two put on vital 61 runs, and upped the run-scoring tempo. Iyer, in particular, took his chances versus spin and even hit a gigantic six before he got a life on the next delivery.
Run-making wasn’t easy but Iyer took calculated chances in the second half of his 62-ball 48 before Ravindra took a sharp catch to send India’s middle-order rock back to the hut.
There were still 69 to get but enough wickets in hands allowed the lower order to control the chase and Rahul played another fluent hand to finish the job. The Men in Blue crossed the line with four wickets in hand, get their hands on the white blazers and their third ICC Champions Trophy title.
Brief scores:
New Zealand: 251/7 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 63, Michael Bracewell 53 not out, Rachin Ravindra 37; Kuldeep Yadav 2/40, Varun Chakaravarthy 2/45.
India: 254/6 in 49 overs (Rohit Sharma 76, Shreyas Iyer 48; Mitchell Santner 2/46, Michael Bracewell 2/28).
