Champions Trophy final: Indian spinners shine despite late New Zealand revival

DUBAI: India need 252 runs to win the ICC Champions Trophy final. Batting first, New Zealand won the toss and scored 251 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs. Daryl Mitchell’s 63 (101) and Michael Bracewell's late-batting fireworks with an unbeaten 53* (40) helped the Kiwis come out of a batting collapse. The Kiwis scored 40 runs from the last four overs.

Openers Will Young 15 (23) and Rachin Ravindra 37 (29) added 57 runs for the first wicket. Varun Chakravarthy broke the partnership by trapping Young in front of the wicket. Kuldeep Yadav slowed down the pace of the New Zealand innings by dismissing Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson. The Black Caps scored 69 runs in the first ten overs. Later, Tom Latham 14 (30) and Glenn Phillips 34 (52) manoeuvred the game, increasing the run rate in crucial overs.

Indian spinners proved their mettle in the middle overs, even trapping New Zealand’s lethal weapon, Kane Williamson. For India, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each, while Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket each. Jadeja conceded just 30 runs in ten overs.