Follow UsIndia skipper Rohit Sharma was brilliant with the bat during the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on March 9 (Sunday) in Dubai, scoring 76 off 83 balls as India won the match by four wickets. However, he chose to laud other team members for the team’s victory against New Zealand in the final of the 50-over tournament.
Appreciating KL Rahul’s finishing act, Rohit said, “Very solid-minded, never gets over-awed by the surrounding pressure. That's the reason we wanted to have him in the middle phase. There's a bit of calmness when he bats and picks the right shot to play the situation, he gives the freedom to others to play freely like Hardik.”
While Rahul hit 34 off 33 balls and took the team over the line, Varun Chakaravarthy, who was not even in the scheme of things for the tournament and was only picked as a replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, also garnered praise from the skipper. Chakaravarthy finished with figures of 2/45 in the game.
“He has got something different about him. He didn't start off in the tournament for us, but when he played against New Zealand and picked up a 5-fer, we wanted to maximize that. He has great quality in his bowling,” said the 37-year-old.
Finally, after denying throughout the tournament that Dubai is not their home ground and that they don’t have any advantage, Rohit said that it did feel like home for the team because of the immense crowd support at the venue.
“The crowd here has been magnificent, it is not our home ground, but they made it our home ground,” he said.