New Zealand opening batter Rachin Ravindra who scored a century in the second semifinal against South Africa was dropped by Shami for 29 runs.
Rohit Sharma-led India was scheduled to face Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand to play the final of ICC Champions Trophy, 2025 on March 9 in Dubai.
It is worth mentioning that New Zealand has a 3-1 record in ICC knockout matches against India, having won the CT final in 2000, the 2019 World Cup semifinal and the WTC final in 2023. India’s only win came in the 2023 World Cup semifinal played in India.
Speaking of the match, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first where Rachin Ravindra and Will Young opened the batting while Mohammed Shami opened the bowling attack.
Right after losing the toss in the Champions Trophy Final, Indian captain Rohit Sharma scripted an unwanted record by equalling Brian Lara’s record for losing the most consecutive tosses as captain in ODIs.
Most consecutive tosses lost by a captain in ODIs
- 12 Rohit Sharma (Nov 2023 – Mar 2025)*
- 12 Brian Lara (Oct 1998 – May 1999)
- 11 Peter Borren (Mar 2011 – Aug 2013)
New Zealand’s opening duo made a steady start as Indian bowlers consistently put pressure with the ball. But Rachin Ravindra in the fourth over bowled by Hardik Pandya struck a six and back-to-back boundaries and scored 16 runs off the single over.
Ravindra continued the momentum and struck another couple of boundaries off the next over by Shami. With an elevated performance from Rachin, New Zealand scored 37 runs without losing a wicket at the end of 5 overs.
Rohit Sharma introduced his trump card player Varun Chakaravarthy to bowl the sixth over but the spinner ended up leaking nine runs off the over. In the seventh over, Shami dropped a catch which straightly returned from the bats of Rachin.
