The Champions Trophy, held after a gap of 8 years, has seen India emerge victorious, making it the most successful side in the Champions Trophy, with three titles in 2002, 2013, and 2025. With its second ICC trophy in the past 1 and a half years, India has a total of seven ICC triumphs—two from the Cricket World Cup, two from the T20 World Cup, and three from the Champions Trophy.

India started its campaign against Bangladesh, which India won comprehensively, courtesy of a five-fer by Mohammed Shami and a scintillating century by Shubman Gill during the chase. The next match was the most-awaited, the great rivalry, India vs Pakistan. India did a fine job restricting its opponents to a sub-par score. The chase was lit by the chase master ‘King Kohli’ who scored another century while hitting the winning runs against his favourite opponents. He was well supported by Gill and Shreyas Iyer, who registered a fifty. India sealed the deal without too many hiccups. With 2 wins on the trot, like their opponents New Zealand, both the teams qualified to the semis from Group A and were waiting to see who would go through in Group B.

Group B had quite a competition going on for the position of the second team who would qualify for the semis because Afghanistan played the match of their lives against England. Though Afghanistan won very closely, Ibrahim Zadran, their batter, played the knock of his life, hitting 177 with the support of other batters to take Afghanistan to a decent total. England tried their best, with Joe Root scoring a century, but unfortunately ended up on the losing side with a five-fer by Azmatullah Omarzai. Finally, due to a washout of the AUS vs AFG match and England’s loss to South Africa, the Aussies qualified for the semifinals over Afghanistan.

Beating New Zealand in the last league game of the Champions Trophy, India topped Group A, setting a date with their rivals Australia for the first semi-final. The second one would take place between New Zealand and South Africa.

Arrived the day of the semi-final. Every Indian fan hoped it would not be a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final and prayed for a win. Once again, India fielded first and restricted Australia to 264 despite half-centuries from captain Steve Smith and Alex Carey.

‘Cometh the Chase, Cometh the Man’ – Virat Kohli. Against another favourite opponent of his, he anchored the chase to perfection, scoring 84 runs with Shreyas Iyer at the other end. By the time Kohli perished, India almost had the game in its basket. With handy contributions from Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul (who stayed till the end and finished it off,) India won with 11 balls to spare. Revenge taken! for the 2023 World Cup Final.

After the second semi-final, New Zealand once again booked a date with India in the final of another ICC Event.

ICC Event final against New Zealand? How will India do? What will happen? Will India win? The New Zealand batters are in such good form, and even their bowlers, especially their captain Mitchell Santer with his spin. How will we tackle him this time?

Such questions emerged in the minds of Indian fans considering the history of the finals between India and New Zealand in the past ICC Events, though India were favourites going into the contest.

The day arrived. All in readiness for the game. New Zealand opted to bat. The Indian bowlers managed to get the top order early. Soon, the partnership between Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips started to threaten when the mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy came in and got the breakthrough with Phillips' wicket. Once Michael Bracewell came in, he was hitting boundaries for fun and during that time, Mitchell registered his 50 but perished soon after. Bracewell notched up a half-century, staying till the end, helping New Zealand post 251.

India started off the chase with a bang. The two openers, skipper Rohit Sharma and deputy Gill, had a century stand where Rohit was more the aggressor. Once Gill perished, Rohit and Kohli fell soon after. But Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel together added a 50+ stand and steadied the ship. When both of them fell, New Zealand were again back in the game. But the cool and calm KL Rahul once again came to India’s rescue, holding one end while Hardik hit some big shots bringing India closer to the target, and eventually Jadeja finished it off.

INDIA beat NEW ZEALAND for the FIRST TIME in an ICC EVENT FINAL!!!

India won all their matches without winning a single toss. That’s an important fact to note from this tournament. The win is praiseworthy because in conditions such as those in Dubai, toss does play a crucial role.

Pakistan hosted the Champions Trophy events with Dubai as co-host. India was to play all their matches in Dubai as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided India wouldn’t travel to Pakistan for safety reasons. There was a lot of talk around India having an ‘unfair advantage’ as it played from one place and got acclimatised to the conditions, etc. As Rohit and Gambhir both mentioned in the press conferences, Dubai is not India’s home ground. It is a neutral venue for them, so they do not know how the conditions will play until the match or a little before the match. Unlike other teams, India didn’t have to travel to different places, which reduced the physical toll. However, India’s win can’t be attributed to that factor. Dubai was as neutral a venue for them as for the rest of the teams.

With this victory, the total ICC trophies tally of RO-KO (Rohit and Kohli) is four, the highest among Indian players, surpassing Dhoni’s three.

India has once again etched its name in cricketing history by clinching yet another ICC Trophy. This triumph also reinforces India's dominance in ICC tournaments. With exceptional performances across all departments, the team showcased resilience, strategy and unwavering determination. As India celebrates this monumental achievement, the win serves as a testament to their consistency on the global stage, further cementing their legacy as a cricketing powerhouse.

India's ICC Triumphs

Images provided by the author.