Last Updated on 1 month by Charbel Coorey
India have won their second ICC trophy in nine months, prevailing by four wickets in the 2025 Champions Trophy (CT) against New Zealand in Dubai, sparking widespread reactions.
Having lost an incredible 15th consecutive coin toss in ODIs, India were asked to bowl first. Rachin Ravindra made an excellent start, forcing Rohit Sharma to introduce spin early. For New Zealand, however, their backs were against the wall from the 11th over onwards as Ravindra (37) and Kane Williamson (11) fell in quick succession to the excellent Kuldeep Yadav to leave the Black Caps tottering at 75/3 in the 13th over.
From there, it was a struggle for New Zealand as the four-pronged spin attack took hold of the game. Daryl Mitchell struggled, batting 101 balls for 63, as he and Glenn Phillips (34 off 52 balls) enabled them to go deeper into the innings. However, they needed more strike rotation as an above-par score was a necessity with Matt Henry unavailable to injury. In the end, Michael Bracewell’s excellent half century (53* off 40 balls) took them past 250.
Such a total was realistically only going to be enough if New Zealand could strike early. Henry’s absence left a big hole. Rohit Sharma took advantage, taking the seamers to all parts of the Dubai International Stadium as India finished the powerplay with a big headstart at 64/0.
The next 8.4 overs yielded just 29 as the spinners came to the fore. Shubman Gill struggled, and was out to another Phillps blinder. New Zealand then had to squeeze, and they did. Virat Kohli was out second ball, and Rohit fell to the pressure, skipping down and swinging wildly in the 27th over. The Black Caps had hope with two of India’s big guns gone. But India, with such excellent middle order depth, kept their noses in front.
Shreyas Iyer (48) and Axar Patel (29) settled proceedings. From there, the excellent KL Rahul, usually so reliable in ODIs, was there at the end as he was against Australia, finishing with 34 off 33 balls.
Twitter Reactions to India winning the 2025 CT Final against New Zealand
Ravindra Jadeja’s winning runs sparked celebrations both at the stadium and online. India have now won 23 of their past 24 matches in ICC events, with the only defeat that day in Ahmedabad.
“Let’s be honest India are the best team in the world in white ball cricket by a decent margin .. Throughly deserved to Win .. T20 holders/Champions trophy holders .. Now down to rest to try and catch up,” wrote Michael Vaughan on X.
Here are some of the reactions to the 2025 CT Final.
For New Zealand, it is another case of so close, yet so far. They have reached multiple white-ball finals in the past decade (2015 ODI WC, 2019 ODI WC, 2021 T20 WC and 2025 ODI CT) but have fallen short each time. Their next attempt will be the T20 World Cup in India next year.
 Final against New Zealand in Dubai International Stadium.){kind=link}