India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the Champions Trophy final last week.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, shared a cricket joke after their defense cooperation meeting in New Delhi on Monday (March 17).
Addressing the press after the event, PM Luxon said he really appreciates PM Modi for not bringing up New Zealand’s loss to India in the recently held Champions Trophy final, while also reminding him of the Kiwis’ historic 3-0 Test series win in the Asian country last year.
PM Luxon also mentioned that such a discussion could lead to a ‘major diplomatic incident’, which left PM Modi in splits.
“I do want to say to the Prime Minister I really have appreciated him not raising another recent loss of New Zealand to India in the recent game that we played in Dubai. But I haven’t mentioned any of the Test series wins that we had on our recent trips to India either. So, let’s just keep it that way and avoid a major diplomatic incident," PM Luxon was quoted as saying.
The Kiwi Prime Minister also praised the Indian cricket team’s performance and said, “During PM Modi’s tenure, the men in blue (Indian cricket team) have been the most dominant side in cricket, most recently winning the Champions Trophy in Dubai against my men in black (New Zealand cricket team). They broke many many New Zealanders’ hearts in the process, including mine. I will be the bigger person and just say congratulations," as quoted by news agency PTI.
India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the title clash to lift the Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on March 9.
Set a target of 252, India rode on Rohit’s 76 and crucial contributions from Shreyas Iyer (48) and KL Rahul (34*) to get over the line with four wickets in hand and an over to spare.
Many of the Indian fans saw this triumph as sweet revenge for the whitewash Tom Latham’s Test side inflicted on India.