Dubai, March 9 India won the Champions Trophy title for the third time on Sunday. With a brilliant innings of 76 runs by captain Rohit Sharma, along with important contributions from Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, India defeated New Zealand by four wickets and captured the Champions Trophy for the third time.
In this final match played at Dubai International Stadium, New Zealand batted first and scored 251/7 in 50 overs. In response, the target of 252 runs looked easy for the Indian team, but the New Zealand bowlers made the match exciting by giving continuous shocks. However, Rohit played a quick innings of 76 runs in 83 balls, followed by the excellent batting of Shreyas Iyer (48) and KL Rahul (34 not out) gave India victory with one over to spare.
With this title win, India won the Champions Trophy for the third time after 2002 and 2013. Earlier, half-centuries from all-rounder Daryl Mitchell (63 off 101 balls) and Michael Bracewell (53 not out off 40 balls) helped the team reach a respectable score. India’s spinners performed brilliantly, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakraborty took two wickets each, while Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket.
Brief scores:
New Zealand: 251/7 (Daryl Mitchell 63, Michael Bracewell 53 not out; Kuldeep Yadav 2/40, Varun Chakraborty 2/45)
