Rohit Sharma’s captain knock helps India recapture Champions Trophy crown

By Ehsan Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma, under fire for not producing big knocks on a consistent basis of late, silenced his critics by smashing a spectacular 76 off 83 balls to lead India to their second ICC Champions Trophy crown in 12 years with a hard-fought four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final on March 9. 

Sharma, eager to dominate from the outset, shared a superb century opening stand with Shubman Gill to set the tone for victory as India, chasing a target of 252, overhauled it for the loss of six wickets with one over to spare at Dubai International Stadium. 

It was India’s second successive title victory in an ICC event, under the leadership of Sharma, after having won the ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies last year. 

New Zealand, captained by Mitchell Santner, deserved the credit for not only reaching the final but also giving the hot-favourites India a run for their money in the title clash despite defending a below par total. 

They had a consolation when their rising star all-rounder Rachin Ravindra was named player of the tournament for his 263 runs in the competition. 

As expected, it was the brilliant fielding which brought the New Zealanders back in the hunt after an early finished loomed on the horizon after the sensational start given by Sharma and Gill. 

The Indian openers were milking runs at will, playing risk-free cricket after the early onslaught. Gill cover drove Santner uppishly with usual power but Glenn Phillips brought off an unbelievable sort of catch to break the threatening partnership against the run of play. 

Virat Kohli, in sublime form after match-winning knock in the semifinal, timed the first delivery he faced with perfection to get off the mark right away. 

But he was undone on the very next ball as off-spinner Michael Bracewell struck with his opening delivery. The capacity crowd went silent as even the review could not save Kohli. 

Perturbed by the loss of two wickets in three balls, Sharma went into a shell which allowed the spinners, even part-timers, to dictate terms. The skipper was stumped, trying to break the shackles, and the match became wide open with India sliding to 122 for three in the 27th over. 

Shreyas Iyer (48 off 62 balls) and Axar Patel (29 off 40 balls) added 61 runs for the fourth wicket to put the Indian innings back on track. After their departure in quick succession, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya batted well to sustain the momentum. 

Yet again, Rahul demonstrated patience and played intelligently to remain undefeated on 34 off 33 balls with one four and six. Pandya left after scoring 18 off as many balls.

Coming into bat at number eight, Ravindra Jadeja hit the winning boundary to the delight and cheers of jampacked stadium. The victory was completed in the penultimate over. Once again, the Indians managed to chase successfully despite the pitch having become slow in the second half of the match.

Earlier in the afternoon, after crawling in the middle overs, New Zealand mustered 251 for seven in their 50 overs thanks to rapid unbeaten 53 off 40 balls by Micheal Bracewell and a somewhat struggling 63 off 101 balls from Daryl Mitchell. 

Benefitting from a couple of dropped catches, New Zealand picked up momentum with Ravindra, the beneficiary on both occasions, taking 16 runs off a Hardik Pandya over with two boundaries and a six. They raced to 69 for one in powerplay which was quite a decent effort. 

It was left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav who dented New Zealand with the key wickets of Ravindra and Kane Williamson in his opening burst. He was summoned into the attack earlier than usual, after pacemen Mohammad Shami and Pandya leaked far too runs with the new ball. 

The Blackcaps were forced to rebuild their innings after being reduced to 75 for three in the 13th over. Tom Latham and Mitchell were content in pushing for singles as the quartet of Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jadeja and Patel suffocated them with very tight and smart bowling. 

Phillips, having scored briskly throughout the tournament, played a few aggressive shots before being cleaned by Chakaravarthy. Mitchell was unable to dominate the spinning quartet who conceded 144 runs in 38 overs between them, taking five wickets. Yadav captured two wickets for 40 runs while Chakaravarthy got two wickets for 45 runs. 

New Zealand's eventual total got some respectability as they added 79 runs in the last 10 overs with Bracewell, riding his luck, to do bulk of the scoring. He was particularly severe on India’s spearhead Shami, who uncharacteristically, went for 74 runs in his nine overs.