INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND , FINAL, ICC CHAMPION TROPHY 2025 : India Snatched Victory In The Nail Biting Final Against New Zealand And Became Champions .
In the final of Champions Trophy 2025, India won a nail-biting four-wicket victory against New Zealand to achieve a record third title. India chased down 252 in 49 overs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium against the Blackcaps. In 2002, India been made joint-winners of Champions Trophy and they won the title again in 2013. Well, now, they have capped the tournament off with the trophy again in 2025. On the match, spinners deliver a brilliant performance to restrict Blakcaps for 251 for 7 after the latter won the toss and decided to bat first. Kuldeep Yadav (2 for 40) and Varun Chakravarthy (2 for 45) claimed two wickets each with Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami getting one wicket each. For Blackcaps, which played crucial knocks were Daryl Mitchell (63) and Michael Bracewell (53). India set off in pursuit with a blazing start through Rohit Sharma’s 76. India went past New Zealand with validate contributions from Shreyas Iyer (48) and KL Rahul (34 not out). India Snatched Victory In The Nail Biting Final Against New Zealand And Became Champions .
TOSS-
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
TEAMS LINE UP-
INDIA (PLAYING XI)-
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubhan Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
NEW ZEALAND (PLAYING XI)-
Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, William ORourke
NEW ZEALAND-
In fact, it was New Zealand that did all the running in the early stages courtesy an aggressive Rachin Ravindra at the start. The tournament’s leading run-scorer displayed the form he was in with a few tasty shots off the pacers. Hardik Pandya was sliced over for 16 in an over while Mohammed Shami also was flicked gracefully and made Rohit Sharma revert to his turn weapon sooner than anyone else had seen in the competition.
Varun Chakaravarthy opened with a googly which went for four byes first up but [he] manufactured the opportunity that India was looking for — Ravindra top-edging a slog-sweep. But Iyer, sprinting in from deep midwicket, could not hang on to the chance. Ravindra now had a couple of chances going awry in as many overs, first with Shami failing to latch on to a difficult return catch. But Chakaravarthy still might have broken a 58-run opening stand there, trapping Will Young plumb LBW while playing and missing a flick. Ravindra was looking ominous after 10 overs, having scored 37 of the 69 they had raced to.
But the innings was turned on its head at Kuldeep Yadav’s very first ball of the game – a wrong ‘un that slipped past Ravindra’s dab. He dragged things even more in India’s favour in his next over when he outsmarted Kane Williamson in the air and accepted a regulation return-catch.
At 75/3, New Zealand were now played into taking foot off accelerator as they risked a crash n burn. Even as the spinners tightened their grip, both Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell went the conservative way. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel maintained the pressure during the middle overs who didn’t offer any freebies even though no extravagant turn was on offer. The final saw India’s spinners having to bowl more than in any of their games of the tournament, and the fact that they managed to bowl around stump lines a collective 37% of the time meant that New Zealand’s risk-taking always carried greater than usual threat.
Their 33-run partnership off 66 balls had just a sole boundary before Latham was beat by a sweep to be LBW against Jadeja. But Mitchell fell back into the same template he set for himself and paired with Glenn Phillips for another unsettling fifth-wicket partnership of just 57 runs. Both batters were also dropped once each, against an uncharacteristically poor day on the field for the Indian catchers. But Phillips failed to capitalise on it as he was bowled by a googly from Chakaravarthy for 34.
Mitchell, meanwhile, raised a dogged fifty and started to accelerate, as did an adventurous Michael Bracewell. Their 45-run partnership propelled New Zealand past the 200-mark but just when they were beginning to set themselves up for a big finish, Mitchell paid the price for spooning Shami to cover. But Bracewell kept the pace going with some clever batting against the pacers in the death overs. He raised his fifty in the last over and towed New Zealand beyond the 250-mark with 35 runs in the last three overs to pace bowling.
INDIA-
For India, the chase started on a rollicking note with skipper Rohit Sharma on the run. Rohit, who set the tone early in with his 69 off 63, was part of a massive 105-run opening stand. Playing under the providence of conditions favorable for spin both the teams aimed pacers well with Rohit’s assault even mocked the chase. Rohit was off to a swift start, notching up 47 by the time New Zealand’s pacers — led by their spearhead Matt Henry, who is injured — had bowled just the first eight overs.
It made Mitchell Santner bring himself on but by and large the openers were allowed to keep the run-rate ticking even after toning down the aggression. India had progressed to 106 by the 19th over and were well-placed before New Zealand pulled the reins.
Gill was then clutched dazzingly at cover by the jumping Glenn Philiips, who added another “where-the-hell-did-you-get-that-from” catch to his highlight reel, and Michael Bracewell struck with his first ball, turning another one past a flick from Virat Kohli to have him trapped LBW for one. Two wickets in four balls pulled the pressure back on India and the New Zealand spinners began to apply the choke. Even a well-set Rohit had to curb the risks out while Shreyas Iyer found his feet.
This led to a spell of 11 dot balls on the trot before Rohit took charge of Rachin Ravindra only to be stumped. At 122/3, the game was tilting back to some kind of parity — India needed another partnership.
Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer combined caution with aggression as things got back on track. The latter came to life early on when Will Young made a brave bid to catch at deep mid-wicket but touched the ropes as he threw the ball back into play.
Iyer and Patel conspired a sedate stand but added 62 critical runs with Kyle Jamieson dropping a sitter at long on when Iyer was on 44. But that wasn’t too expensive to pay for as Iyer followed it up soon after by taking on Mitchell Santner in an effort to hoick the ball over short fine leg but ended up being caught by Rachin Ravindra. With the run-a-ball ask looming large, KL Rahul came and hit a six off Santner early on to ease some of the nerves. But course had another twist when a well-set Patel misjudged a loft off Bracewell and holed out to long off.
The final was still very much in the balance, with 48 needed from as many balls. However, both Rahul and Hardik Pandya managed to hit a boundary or two at the back-end of the innings to ensure that India were well in the ballpark of the asking rate. Pandya’s 18-off-18 were ended by a bouncer from Jamieson but by this stage India needed just 11 off15. With some smart batting, Jadeja and Rahul then saw off a stiff fight from New Zealand.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand 251/7 (Daryl Mitchell 63, Michael Bracewell 53\*; Varun Chakaravarthy 2-45, Kuldeep Yadav 2-40) lost to India 254/6 (Rohit Sharma 76, Shreyas Iyer 48) by 4 wickets .