🏏ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India vs NZ, Match 12, Group A🏏 - Page 103

India make it three from three! With this result, they head into the semifinals as Group A toppers and have set up a semifinal showdown with Australia here in Dubai. For New Zealand, it was a trial by spin, with 9 out of 10 wickets falling to the spinners. The relentless stranglehold never allowed them to break free. They now head to Lahore, where they will face the Group B toppers, South Africa for a place in the final.

Originally posted by: Redflag

Santer gone

I don't know why I am feeling bad for NZ

In their pursuit of 250, Kane Williamson led the charge for the Kiwis after the early loss of Rachin Ravindra. Will Young's promising stay was cut short, and from there, India applied the brakes through their spinners. It was a real graft out there, but Williamson dug in, and as the ball aged, the Indian spinners found increasing purchase from the surface.

Varun Chakravarthy, Player of the Match: "I did feel nervous in the initial stages. Not played a lot for India in ODIs, so was nervous. As the game progressed, felt better. Virat, Rohit, Shreyas, Hardik everyone was talking to me and asked me to calm down. Found out last night about play. Was expecting to play for the country and looking forward, but was nervous. It was not a rank-turner but if you bowled in the right places, it helped. The way Kuldeep, Jaddu, Axar bowled, even the pacers. it was a total team effort.

A commanding bowling show from India seals their win tonight. At the halfway stage it looked like they fell short with the bat. But the spinners mounted a superb comeback and New Zealand crumbed under the pressure of the climbing asking rate. They collapsed to 6 for 54 to be bowled out for 205. Williamson played anchor throughout but ran out of patience with the required rate climbing. The damage was really done in the middle overs where India's spinners applied the breaks on scoring. They did not pick wickets in heap at that point but never allowed even set batters to score. Mitchell, Latham and Phillips all tried changing gears but failed. India's four-pronged spin attack could be tough to contend with, especially in the absence of dew in these conditions.

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Is it gud that we facing aus? Whats our record against Aus team?

Honestly

Udhar kua, idhar khaai wali situation hain.

Both NZ and Aus aren't a great opponent for India, if Aus has hurt us, NZ too hasn't been behind.

We lost the ODI WC 2019 Semifinal and the WTC 2021 Final to them.

So either we fight Aus in the Semifinal or it was Aus / NZ in the Finals.

So nothing much would have made a difference, and honestly losing Semis will hurt less than losing Final.

I will only get 5 points

But its okay

Congratulations Team India and the all the very best for the match with AUS now.

Axar Patel snared Williamson on the last ball of his spell, tilting the scales massively in India's favour. The Kiwis had a fleeting hope through their skipper Mitchell Santner’s hitting but Varun Chakaravarthy nipped him in the bud and effectively sealed the fate of this game. Varun was instrumental in the middle phase and stood out for India with his maiden ODI five-wicket haul.

Earlier, after opting to bowl first, Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson combined to dismantle India’s top three in the first Powerplay. Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer steadied the innings with a crucial 98-run stand, but their dismissals came at an inopportune time, stalling India's acceleration. The late flourish never quite materialized, as the Kiwi bowlers cleverly varied their pace and lengths to restrict India to 249.