Rohit Sharma was the star for India as they won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 tournament undefeated in the tournament. India defeated New Zealand in the final on March 9, 2025, in Dubai to win their third Champions Trophy win.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat first in Dubai. Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell scored half-centuries, while Rachin Ravindra (37) and Glenn Phillips (35) contributed to the final total of 251/7 in 50 overs. For India, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each.
In reply, Rohit Sharma starred with 76 and added 105 runs for the opening wicket with Shubman Gill (31). Shreyas Iyer made 48, Axar Patel made 29, Hardik Pandya made 18 and KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 34* to take India home with 4 wickets in hand.
Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell took 2 wickets each for New Zealand. Rohit Sharma was named the Player of the final.
After receiving the POTM award, Rohit Sharma said: “It is very nice. We played some really good cricket through the tournament; to come out and have the result our way is a great feeling, very happy with how we played this game. It is not natural to me but it is something I really wanted to do, when you are trying something different you need the backing of the team and they were with me, Rahul bhai in the 2023 World Cup, and now with Gauti bhai.
I have played all these years in a different style, I wanted to see if we can get results by playing differently. Having played here on a few occasions, you understand the nature of the pitch, using the feet is something I have been doing for a while now, I have gotten out as well. But I never wanted to look away from that. It makes it easier and gives you that freedom, that's why I wanted that batting depth, Jadeja coming at 8 gives you that confidence to go hard, if it comes off it comes off. Most important thing is that I am clear in my mind.”
India defeated New Zealand, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in the Group A stage and then Australia in the semi-final during the tournament. This was Rohit Sharma’s 4th ICC trophy afterthe 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2013 Champions Trophy, and 2024 T20 World Cup.
At the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma said: “I want to appreciate everyone who came out and supported us. The crowd here has been magnificent, it is not our home ground but they made it our home ground. The number of people that came here to watch us play, to give them that win was satisfying. Not just this game but right through, our spinners in particular, there are too much expectations when you are playing on a pitch like that. We do understand their strengths and used it to our advantage.
(KL Rahul) Very solid mind, never gets overawed by the pressure around him, that's the reason we wanted to have him in the middle phase, there's a bit of calmness when he bats and picks the right shot to play to the situation, he gives the freedom to others to play freely like Hardik.
He (Varun) has got something different about him. When we are playing on such pitches, we want the batters to do something different. He didn't start off in the tournament for us, but when he played against New Zealand and picked up a 5-fer, we wanted to maximize that. He has great quality in his bowling. Very grateful, really appreciate their support and getting behind the team. When they come out and get behind the team it makes a huge difference."
