Goes through! India win and seal semi-final date with Australia. Nicely tossed up, it is the googly again, O'Rourke has no clue as he looks to flick it through the on side. The ball lands on leg and spins away to rattle the stumps
India vs New Zealand, 12th Match, Group A at Dubai, Champions Trophy, Mar 02 2025 - Match Result
That is all we have for you from Dubai tonight. Hope you enjoy our coverage. On behalf of Ranjith and Ashish, I, Sudarshanan, bid you goodbye. Ciao, folks!
8:10pm 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.
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."
After the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai, where India had suffered an early exit, Varun wondered if he would ever play for India again. He has now reinvented himself and returned to Dubai in grand style. Varun's coaches reveal the secrets behind behind his renaissance.
Mitchell Santner, NZ captain: "A slower wicket than what we have come up against. India controlled the middle phase. Shreyas batted well and Hardik finished off. Spun more than we thought, spun more than the other games here. Four quality spinners makes it tough. Key for us was wickets in the powerplay. Kane's form nice for us. South Africa are a quality side. In those wickets with pace and bounce, they have good four pacers."
Rohit Sharma, India captain: "Very important for us to finish on a high. New Zealand a good side, playing well in the recent past. Axar-Shreyas partnership was important after losing wickets in the first powerplay. They got us to good total, with our quality bowlers, we had the confidence to defend that. Varun has got something different, wanted to try and see what he had to offer. We got to think a little about what to do for the next game, good headache. If he gets it right, very difficult to read him. Momentum critical in such a short game. Try and win game, try and do everything right. Mistakes happen but correcting that is important. It is going to be a good game. Australia have a rich history of playing well in ICC tournaments. About us to do things right. We have to be focussed on what we need to do on that day. Looking forward to that, hopefully we can stitch one towards us."
Mustafa Moudi : "Fun Fact: New Zealand Becomes the Semi-Finalist to lose a Game in Group Stage. Seems to be the only edition where 3 Semi-Finalists entering the Knockout Stage Unbeaten!!"
Phani: "All the other 3 semifinalists would be hoping for a India loss - Aus to reach final, NZ and SA to avoid travel"
Goes back and steers it towards point
Picks the googly early and sends it sailing! Tossed up full and outside off, Jamieson clears his front leg and wallops it over long-on
Fuller on off, pushed to long-off. Varun finishes for the night
Almost a sixth! He jams his bat down and gets an inside edge through backward square leg
Will O'Rourke is the last man in
Gets the five-for man to pick up a five-wicket-haul of his own, Varun! New Zealand have crumbled against spin here. Flighted leggie on middle and leg, Henry looks to go straight but skies it high. Kohli comes forward from long-off and takes it. Varun becomes only the third Indian to pick up a five-for in the Champions Trophy
Length ball on miuddle and leg, punched towards midwicket, where Rohit can't stop it
Kyle Jamieson
rssampat: "Santner should have began the attack when Williamson was batting. Williamson had to take risk and he got out. Had this attack begun by the other batsmen, williamson could have batted safetly and this could have been different" I felt Williamson lost his patience at the wrong time, could have carried on for a couple of overs at least and this match would have had a different look
Castled! There's the big wicket of Santner and Varun picks up his fourth. He bowls the cross-seam quicker one on a length from over the wicket, Santner looks to steer it away but is beaten for pace. Perplexed look on his face before he starts trudging back
Length ball landing outside leg, Santner goes deep in the crease and turns it through midwicket. Even though Jadeja is the one charging at the ball, they sprint back for two
Fuller on middle, nudges it to the on side to keep strike
Throws it wide outside off, Santner charges down, reaches out and drills it through cover. Jadeja does well in the deep but it is not enough to prevent two
Flatter length ball outside off, cut straight to backward point
Spots Santner ready to charge down and fires it down leg, he misses but Rahul does not
Flatter outside off, punched to point
Cracked through cover! Tossed up wide outside off, he takes a forward-stride and drills it all along the ground through cover
Wrong'un outside off, punched towards backward point
Slows it down and goes the distance. Santner is seeing those alright with his specs on. Full in length, 93.6kph, Santner gets under it and tonks it into the long-off stands, 106m hit
Fired in on a length, beats Santner on the inside and deflects off Rahul to short fine leg, 112.2kph!
Flatter on middle, 93.6kph, punched back to the bowler
Quicker on the leg, goes off the pad to short fine leg
1W | 1W | |||
1W | ||||
2W | ||||
3W | ||||
1W |
1W |
Dubai International Cricket Stadium | |
Toss | New Zealand, elected to field first |
Series | |
Season | 2024/25 |
Player Of The Match | |
Match number | ODI no. 4852 |
Hours of play (local time) | 13.00 start, First Session 13.00-16.30, Interval 16.30-17.10, Second Session 17.10-20.40 |
Match days | 2 March 2025 - daynight (50-over match) |
Umpires | |
TV Umpire | |
Reserve Umpire | |
Match Referee | |
Points | India 2, New Zealand 0 |
Over 46 • NZ 205/10