Victorious warriors win first and then go to war. So do great cricket teams.
The fate of the 2025 Champions Trophy was decided much before India played its first match. Everything else was just a formality before the inevitability of an Indian victory. And all the drama we saw from the first match till the final on Sunday was meant to give the championship a semblance of contest.
Not once in the five matches it played, India was in danger of being defeated, not even when it played arch rivals Pakistan, and their twin nemesis Australia and New Zealand, who they beat twice on consecutive Sundays.
India have claimed the Champions Trophy after an absorbing victory over New Zealand in the final.
India has lifted the Champions Trophy after an absorbing battle with New Zealand in the final.
Once again, it was KL Rahul who dragged his side across the line for a hard-earned, nervy four-wicket victory in Dubai.
Just as in the semifinal against Australia on the same ground five days earlier, the finisher Rahul kept his cool and, aided by fellow old stagers Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, steered India to another major title with just one over to spare on Sunday.
Rahul finished undefeated on 34 as India, chasing New Zealand’s 7-251, laboured to get to their target after a blistering 76 by captain Rohit Sharma.
Sharma’s opening partnership of 105 with Shubman Gill had initially made it look as if it should be a cakewalk.
Rahul came up with the key innings to steer India home.
For India, unbeaten throughout the tournament, it was a second ICC trophy in two years following the T20 World Cup triumph in Bridgetown in 2024.
Interrupted only by their 50-over World Cup final defeat by Australia in 2023, they’ve now confirmed themselves as white-ball masters with an extraordinary record of 23 victories in their last 24 ICC tournament matches.
New Zealand were well in the game after Bracewell’s 39-ball half-century late in their knock elevated them to a par total after a trial by spin.
Bracewell ended unbeaten on 53 off 40 balls as the Black Caps, who opted to bat, took advantage of the Indians failing to back up their excellent tweakers as they dropped four catches.
Bracewell’s knock gave Mitchell Santner’s team crucial impetus after Daryl Mitchell had held the innings together with a slow but vital 63 off 101 balls amid the stranglehold of Kuldeep Yadav (2-40), Jadeja (1-30), Varun Chakravarthy (2-45) and Axar Patel (0-29).
For a fan, it is a night of fulfilled dreams, prayers answered. Yet, a thought still rankles: The final should have been in Lahore. Winning in front of the Pakistanis would have been the perfect victory in a war that wasn’t even fought.
Sandipan Sharma, our guest author, likes to write on cricket, cinema, music and politics. He believes they are interconnected.
