Dubai: India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets to lift their 3rd ICC Champions Trophy today at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai today. India has lifted the title after a gap of 12 years. They had last won ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
Chasing a modest total of 252 runs, India achieved the target with 6 balls to spare. Major contribution came from Indian skipper Rohit Sharma 76 (83) and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer 48 (62). The winning runs were scored by Ravindra Jadeja 9*(6) while KL Rahul 34* (33) was present on the other end of the wicket.
Despite failing to break the opening partnership in the initial 15 overs, New Zealand made a comeback in the game as they picked wickets at regular intervals. Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell were top wicket takers from the side (2 wickets each).
However, the Indian batters made a team effort and chased the score with 1 over to spare. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his brilliant innings in today’s run chase where the stakes were high. Rachin Ravindra won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award.
Earlier in the match, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first. Even though there was a promising start to the innings, the wickets fell continuously. The top contribution with the bat came from Daryl Mitchell 63 (101) and Michael Bracewell 53 (40). The Kiwis ended their innings at 251/7 in 50 overs. Indian spinners restricted the batters of New Zealand throughout the innings and prevented a huge target.
The Indian spinners- Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja picked total of 5 wickets while Mohammed Shami picket a single wicket. Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel were wicketless today.
Fall of wickets (New Zealand)
57-1 (Will Young, 7.5), 69-2 (Rachin Ravindra, 10.1), 75-3 (Kane Williamson, 12.2), 108-4 (Tom Latham, 23.2), 165-5 (Glenn Phillips, 37.5), 211-6 (Daryl Mitchell, 45.4), 239-7 (Mitchell Santner, 49)
Fall of wickets (India)
105-1 (Shubman Gill, 18.4), 106-2 (Virat Kohli, 19.1), 122-3 (Rohit Sharma, 26.1), 183-4 (Shreyas Iyer, 38.4), 203-5 (Axar Patel, 41.3), 241-6 (Hardik Pandya, 47.3)
