🏏ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India vs New Zealand, Final:Thread # 2🏏

India wins the champions trophy
A second straight ICC title for india

The Dubai sky is lit up as India register claim their third Champions Trophy title. Lots of smiles and handshakes in the middle. Jadeja, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh break into a Gangnam style dance. Kohli and Rohit do the dandiya dance with the stumps. Varun Chakravarthy is all smiles. He has turned the narrative in India's favour right from the time he's come into the team. The Indian chase got off to a super start thanks largely to Rohit Sharma, who put on 105-run stand for the opening wicket. Then New Zealand bounced back with three quick wickets with spin doing the damage. But, Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer steadied the ship to take the team forward. A couple of quick wickets brought NZ back again, but Rahul and Pandya took India to the finishing line before Jadeja finished things off. A word on the brilliance of New Zealand. They didn't have their best bowler in the game, yet pushed India to the brink.

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Phew! What a final! It was tense, it was nerve-wracking, it kept swinging from one team to the other and in the end India just had enough ammunition in their tank. Rohit Sharma set the tone for the chase when he pulled the second ball of the innings for a maximum. The skipper was switched on today and he got India off to a flying start. Gill was happy to play second fiddle and together the pair added a 100+ stand. At that stage, it looked like India would canter home comfortably but that was not the case. Glenn Phillips pulled off arguably the catch of the tournament to break the partnership and Bracewell struck soon after to send Kohli back. The squeeze was on and Rohit, who had raced to 76, fell due to that pressure.

The game was even-stevens at that stage. New Zealand's spinners were on top and India needed someone to soak up the pressure, and that's what Shreyas Iyer did along with Axar Patel. The duo steadied the chase and kept the scoreboard ticking over. They added a 50+ stand and looked in control when the second drinks break was taken but this is a final and nothing is a given. Iyer played three dots and that got to him as he tried something fancy and perished in the process. Axar as well could not see out Bracewell's spell and fell trying to clear the boundary. New Zealand were back in it but that's where India's depth came to the fore, Rahul was cool and calm at one end, Hardik played a couple of big shots to get India closer and then Jadeja finished it off. The Indian players are being interviewed and we will have them up. Stay tuned as the party has just started..

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India's victory celebrations: As soon as Jadeja saw the ball heading towards the fence, he was beginning to celebrate, did not even see O'Rourke who he bumped into inadvertently. Kohli roars and then is hugged by Nayar and Gambhir hugs Kohli. Jadeja was seen blowing kisses in the direction of the Indian dressing room. Rahul had his arms outstretched. Varun, Rana and Arshdeep were the first to run on to the field and hug Jadeja and KL. Gambhir is sporting a smile. Rohit then walks out to the middle with a big smile on his face. The customary handshakes follow between the two teams. Gambhir is lifted by Jadeja while Rohit hugs Shreyas. Rohit and Kohli take a stump each as a souvenir and with big smiles on their faces indulge in some playful Dandiya - a folk dance from Gujarat. They then pose for the cameras who lap up the duo together. Rana, Jadeja and Arshdeep do a jig and perform the Gangnam Style move. India jubilant even as they take their time to console New Zealand.