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On March 9, 2025, the Indian cricket team came out victorious against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025 final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to lift their seventh ICC trophy. The team led by skipper Rohit Sharma, finished their CT campaign with a perfect record of five out of five wins, defeating the mighty Australians and arch-rivals Pakistan in the process. As the whole nation celebrates this win with pride, let us take a look at the entire campaign of Team India in this tournament.
Bangladesh vs India
India kicked off their proceedings with a match against Bangladesh in their Group A fixture. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first, putting up a decent total of 228 runs on the board, courtesy of a century by Towhid Hridoy. Indian pacer Mohammed Shami picked up a fifer in the first innings to restrict Bangladesh to that total.
However, the Indian batting unit comfortably chased down the total with 21 balls to spare. The world number one ODI batter Shubman Gill, showed his class by scoring an unbeaten 101 to guide the Indian team to victory.
Pakistan vs India
The second match of the group-stage for India was against arch-rivals Pakistan, who won the toss and chose to bat first. The Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan stitched together an important 104-run third-wicket partnership with Saud Shakeel to take Pakistan to a decent total of 241. Gill had a good start to this match as well with 46 runs to his name before getting dismissed, however the show was stolen by the chase master Virat Kohli in the second innings, who scored 100 not out alongside a brilliant 56 by Shreyas Iyer to lead Team India to victory.
India vs New Zealand
India finally had to bat in the first innings after New Zealand won the toss and decided to field first. After the early dismissals of the top-order batters, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel played out an important partnership of 98 runs to take India to a defendable total of 249 in the 50 overs. Matt Henry was the star of the Kiwis bowling attack, picking up a fifer. Although the New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson scored a gritty 81 off 120 balls; the brilliance of the four spinners in the team ensured victory for India as the Kiwis were bowled out for 205. Notably, Varun Chakravarthy picked up a fifer as India topped their group with three wins.
CT 2025 Semi-final 1: Australia vs India
India was placed against the mighty Aussies in the semi-final, who won the toss and elected to bat first. Leading from the front, skipper Steve Smith scored an invaluable 73 with Alex Carey pitching in with a quick-fire 61 off 57 deliveries to take Australia to a total of 264, which would be a tricky chase on that surface. However the determined India side came out with intent as Virat Kohli once again showed his quality, scoring a patient 84 and establishing a third-wicket partnership of 91 runs with Shreyas Iyer. KL Rahul added the finishing touches by scoring an unbeaten 42, taking India past the finishing line with 11 balls to spare.
CT 2025 Final: New Zealand vs India
The final showdown was a rematch of India’s final group stage match. In the summit clash, Mitchell Santner-led Black Caps won the toss and chose to bat first this time. After the dismissal performance of the top-order batters, middle-order batters Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell played impactful knocks of 63 and 53 respectively to propel the Kiwis to a respectable total of 251.
They say that the greats deliver when needed the most, and such was the case with Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who made his highest score of this tournament of 76 after providing an explosive start to Team India. ‘Mr Consistent’ Shreyas Iyer performed once again scoring an important knock of 48, with KL Rahul once again guiding Team India to victory in the final overs with a composed knock of 34 runs. India beat New Zealand with one over to spare and picked up their seventh ICC title.
