Despite the stiff challenge posed by New Zealand, India clinched the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 by a four-wicket margin, marking the third time they won this title.

Chasing 251 in the final on a tricky surface in Dubai, India were put under pressure both with the bat and ball but they managed to put in a collective effort that saw them get over the line to go through the tournament unbeaten, and add a seventh ICC senior trophy to their cabinet.

India got off to a rollicking start in the chase led by skipper Rohit Sharma. In a 105-run opening stand, Rohit dominated contributing 69 off 63 and setting the tone early. With the conditions favouring spin, both teams targeted the pacers well with Rohit's assault nearly making a mockery of the chase.

The first eight overs bowled by New Zealand's pacers, sans their injured spearhead Matt Henry, saw Rohit race off to 47 in a team score of 59. It forced Mitchell Santner to bring himself on but by and large the openers were able to keep the run-rate up even while toning down the aggression.

Reaching 106 by 19 overs, India were firmly in the driver's seat before New Zealand pulled things back. Santner had Shubman Gill caught splendidly at cover by a leaping Glenn Phillips, who added to his highlights reel of eyepopping catches, while Michael Bracewell struck with his first ball turning one past Virat Kohli's flick to trap him LBW for one. Losing two wickets in the space of four balls put the pressure back on India and New Zealand's spinners began to apply the choke.

Even a well-set Rohit had to cut the risks out while Shreyas Iyer settled in. This brought about a phase of 11 dot balls in a row before Rohit gave charge to Rachin Ravindra only to be stumped.

At 122/3, the game was tilting back to parity with India in need of another partnership. Patel and Shreyas Iyer mixed caution with aggression to push things back. The latter got a life early on when Will Young made a valiant attempt at the deep mid-wicket boundary to take a catch but stepped onto the ropes while tossing it back into play.

Iyer and Patel went about a sedate stand but added 62 crucial runs with Kyle Jamieson dropping a sitter at long on when Iyer was on 44. But that did not prove too costly as Iyer took on Mitchell Santner soon after in an attempt to clear short fine leg only to be taken by Rachin Ravindra.

With the asking rate hovering around the run-a-ball mark, KL Rahul came in and lofted Santner for a six early on easing some nerves. But there was another twist on course as a well-set Patel miscued a loft off Bracewell to hole out to long off.

Needing 48 in as many balls, the final was still firmly in balance. But Rahul and Hardik Pandya got boundaries ever so often at the back-end to keep India well within the asking rate. Pandya’s 18-ball 18 was ended by a bouncer from Jamieson but India needed only 11 off 15 by this point.

Some smart batting from Jadeja and Rahul thereafter saw India home staving off a stiff fight from New Zealand. Just as they did with the ball, New Zealand had made sure that India wouldn’t run away with the game with the ball as well.

Despite a sustained effort from India’s spinners, they managed to get to a competitive total.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 251/7 (Daryl Mitchell 63, Michael Bracewell 53*; Varun Chakaravarthy 2-45, Kuldeep Yadav 2-40) lost to India 254/6 (Rohit Sharma 76, Shreyas Iyer 48) by 4 wickets