3 major masterstrokes behind India's 2025 Champions Trophy triumphÂ
India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy on Sunday, March 9, in Dubai. With this victory, they won the title for the third time in the history of the tournament.
New Zealand batted first and were restricted to 251/7 from their 50 overs. Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav picked up two wickets apiece while Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with a wicket each.
In the chase, captain Rohit Sharma got India off to a solid start with his 83-ball 76 at the top, which included 7 fours and 3 sixes. Things got a little tricky for India in the middle. However, vital knocks from Shreyas Iyer (48) and KL Rahul (34 not out) helped them cross the line and win the Champions Trophy.
As India won the tournament remaining unbeaten, let us take a look at the three major masterstrokes behind their 2025 Champions Trophy triumph.
#3 Drafting Varun Chakaravarthy into the 2025 Champions Trophy squad after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out
Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who had sustained an injury during the Border Gavaskar Trophy, was included in India's preliminary squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy. However, he failed to recover in time and had to be ruled out of the final squad.
While India got in pacer Harshit Rana as Bumrah's replacement, they made a masterstroke by including mystery spinner Varun Chakavarthy in the final squad and dropped batter Yashasvi Jaiswal for him, who was in the preliminary squad.
Varun performed well in the home series against England and including him at the last moment by dropping a batter eventually worked wonders for India as he performed well in the marquee ICC event as well.
#2 Playing four spinners in the playing XI after the first two games
India played their first two matches of the 2025 Champions Trophy with three pacers in Mohammad Shami, Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya and three spinners in Jadeja, Kuldeep, and Axar Patel.
However, in the first two games against Bangladesh and Pakistan, the fast bowlers could not get many wickets with the new ball and there was hardly any help on offer for pacers.
The team was quick to reassess the conditions and from the third game onwards against New Zealand, Varun was picked in the playing XI and India played with four spinners from there on, which clearly helped them dominate other teams as batters found it difficult to score runs easily. This change in the combination was a major factor behind India's eventual triumph.
#1 Axar Patel promoted above KL Rahul in the batting order
Another smart move by the Indian team during the 2025 Champions Trophy was promoting all-rounder Axar Patel alead of KL Rahul in the batting order throughout the tournament.
Axar being sent at No. 5 over KL Rahul not only helped the team keep a right-left combination in the middle but also gave more stability to the batting, with Rahul batting at 6, who played the role of a finisher, as seen in the games against Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand in the final.
Moreover, Axar himself played crucial knocks during difficult situations in the middle. He scored 147 runs with important innings such as his 42 against New Zealand in the last group-stage game and vital knocks in the semifinals and finals, also stitching crucial partnerships at the same time.