It had been 12 years since M.S. Dhoni led India to its second Champions Trophy triumph in 2013.
While the Men in Blue have been some of the constant sides within the 50-over format, failing to go the gap in an ICC occasion had taken the sheen off it.
The aspect got here inside one win of ending that drought two years in the past throughout the World Cup however fell on the remaining hurdle after successful each match till then.
When Rohit Sharma lifted the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 following India’s four-wicket win over New Zealand within the remaining on the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, it was simply reward for one of many strongest groups in modern-day cricket.
Since 2022, India has been the standout outfit in ODIs, successful 49 out of the 70 video games — essentially the most by any crew.
Over the final three weeks, Rohit’s males confirmed why they’re the top-ranked aspect on the planet. They steamrollered each opponent and completed on high.
More spectacular than the victory was how the crew went about its enterprise. It was a stirring marketing campaign deliberate meticulously however versatile sufficient to assume out of the field and take daring calls.
Right from the choice course of, the administration obtained the whole lot spot on. At the eleventh hour, Varun Chakaravarthy got here in as a fifth spin possibility holding in view Dubai’s gradual and sluggish pitches. That Varun changed a batter (Yashasvi Jaiswal) shocked many.
One hardly ever witnesses 4 spinners play an energetic position within the limited-overs format. Yet, there was a willingness to experiment, which proved to be a masterstroke and a game-changer within the final three matches, together with the semifinal and remaining.
The determination was boosted by the truth that Rohit’s squad had three real all-rounders (Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel) within the beginning XI who can swing contests with the bat on their very own and additionally bowl the complete quota of overs, permitting the captain the pliability to mess around along with his mixture.
While the off-field calls are only one a part of the equation, the bottom line is the on-field execution, and all of the 12 gamers (India simply made only one change in all the competitors, bringing in Varun for Harshit Rana) left a lasting impression.
“We saw that the people who got the ball played their role. The players who got the opportunity to bat won the game. We didn’t see only one player making runs in the tournament,” mentioned Rohit.
“People made their small contributions. We knew that wickets were a bit challenging here and they wouldn’t be easy for everyone. So, it is very important to make contributions from top to bottom, which we did very well.”
Though there is no such thing as a denying that India had a slight benefit taking part in at just one venue — serving to gamers acclimatise — to attribute that as the important thing cause for the success can be a enormous disservice to the high-quality cricket performed.
The indisputable fact that India reached the summit conflict of the final three ICC white-ball tournaments (’23 ODI World Cup, ’24 T20 World Cup and ’25 Champions Trophy) and has misplaced just one recreation whereas taking house two titles reveals that the Men in Blue are the pre-eminent pressure within the limited-overs format and might effectively go down in historical past as some of the profitable sides.
Published – March 10, 2025 08:38 pm IST
