India registered a big win by defeating New Zealand by 44 runs in the 12th Group A match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
India’s strong batting, Shreyas Iyer’s brilliant half-century!
Batting first, India scored 249/9 in 50 overs.
Indian team’s top scorers:
- Shreyas Iyer – 79 runs (98 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes)
- Hardik Pandya – 45 runs (45 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes)
- Axar Patel – 42 runs (61 balls, 3 fours, 1 six)
New Zealand’s best bowlers:
- Matt Henry – 8 overs, 42 runs, 5 wickets
- Kyle Jamieson – 8 overs, 31 runs, 1 wicket
- Rachin Ravindra – 6 overs, 31 runs, 1 wicket
Varun Chakravarthy’s havoc, New Zealand’s innings ended at 205!
Chasing the target of 249 runs, New Zealand was all out after scoring just 205 runs in 45.3 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy bowled brilliantly and took 5 wickets and pushed New Zealand on the backfoot.
New Zealand’s top scorers:
- Kane Williamson – 81 runs (120 balls, 7 fours)
- Mitchell Santner – 28 runs (31 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes)
- Will Young – 22 runs (35 balls, 3 fours)
India’s deadly bowlers:
- Varun Chakravarthy – 10 overs, 42 runs, 5 wickets
- Kuldeep Yadav – 9.3 overs, 56 runs, 2 wickets
- Axar Patel – 10 overs, 32 runs, 1 wicket
- Hardik Pandya – 4 overs, 22 runs, 1 wicket
Big win for India, Chakravarthy made a comeback!
Thanks to Varun Chakravarthy’s career best performance (5/42), India defeated New Zealand by 44 runs and took a strong step towards the semi-finals.
With this win, India’s position in the points table became stronger.
IND vs NZ, After Match Statement
Rohit Sharma (India captain): It was important for us to finish the game on a high. New Zealand were playing really well and it was important to get the result. The Shreyas Axar partnership was crucial. The total which we got was enough to work it out. We had the confidence, the bowlers stepped up and did the job. Look Varun has got something different so we wanted to try and see what he can offer. We have to think what we want to do in the next game.
If he gets it right it’s very difficult to read him. No absolutely, it’s very critical when you are playing such a short tournament. You want to win possibly every games. You have to correct the mistakes quickly. Australia is gonna be a good game. They have a rich history of playing ICC tournaments well. It will start from ball one. We need to think what we need to do on that particular day.
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand captain): Yeah obviously it was a slow wicket than what we came against. India controlled the middle phase with the bat. Shreyas batted brilliantly and then Shreyas did the job. Then they squeezed us with the spinners. Four quality spinners makes it really tough. Yeah I think the key for us was to get wickets in the powerplay and we got that. We go to Lahore where it should be a flat wicket. South Africa are a quality side. Would be interesting to see whether it will be an used pitch of not.
Varun Chakravarthy (Player of the Match, India): First of all, I felt nervous in the initial stages as I haven’t played many ODI games for India. But as the game went on it eased a bit. I kept speaking to Virat, Rohit, and Shreyas and they all told me to calm down. Found out last night that I was going to play the game. I always wanted to represent the country but was a bit nervous. It wasn’t a rank turner, but if you bowled in the right places it paid off. It was a total team effort, the way Kuldeep, Axar, and Jaddu bowled showed that.
