Champions Trophy: India and New Zealand’s journey to the finals

The culmination of nearly a month of ODI cricket will take place this Sunday, as India and New Zealand face off in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final. But, before a champion is crowned, lets take a look back at both team’s journeys through the group stage and semi-finals.

New Zealand

New Zealand started off the tournament by thrashing hosts Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener. While it was just the first match of the tournament, it was the third time the Kiwis had faced the men in green in just the month of February. New Zealand continued their streak of outclassing Pakistan, just as they did twice in the tri-nation series. Tom Latham and Will Young put New Zealand in a great position after both scored centuries, with the latter making 107 off 113, while the former made an unbeaten 118 off 104 deliveries. After setting an intimidating target of 321, the Kiwis showed out with the ball as well, as Will O’Rourke and Mitchell Santner took three wickets each, while Matt Henry had two, and both Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith had one. New Zealand won by 60 runs and set the tone for their Champions Trophy stint.

Next up on the docket was Bangladesh, and once again New Zealand won comfortably. Bracewell and O’Rourke led the bowling attack, taking four and two wickets respectively, while Henry and Kyle Jamieson had one each. Bangladesh was held down to only 236 runs, a target that the Kiwis easily made, despite a little trouble early on. Young was dismissed in the very first over for a duck, and Kane Williamson fell in just the fourth. However, those early wickets, along with the dismissal of Devon Conway, wasn’t enough to slow New Zealand down. By the time Rachin Ravindra was dismissed in the 39th over, he had scored 112 runs off 105 deliveries. And by the time Latham was sent off in the 42nd, he had made 55 off 76. Those two knocks propelled the Kiwis to victory.

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The final match of the group stage for New Zealand would be a preview of the final. They clashed with India, and fell short despite a fantastic bowling performance from Matt Henry, who took five wickets to help hold the men in blue down to just 249 runs. India’s Varun Chakravarthy was equally incredible with the ball, taking five wickets of his own. Together with Kuldeep Yadav’s two wickets, as well Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel’s one each, New Zealand were all out for 205 runs, 44 short of India’s score.

Despite the loss, New Zealand weren’t deterred. They finished second in Group A behind the team that had just bested them, and headed into the semi-finals to face South Africa, who topped Group B. After the poor batting performance against India, in which only Kane Williamson seemed to find his rhythm, New Zealand found their groove again against the Proteas. Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson had a 164 run second wicket partnership, with both players completing centuries before they were dismissed. Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips also had great knocks, both ending just one run short of a half century. Thanks to those four, New Zealand set a 363-run target, and South Africa’s chances of winning were slim. After Henry struck first in the fifth over of South Africa’s innings, Santner would take three wickets between the 23rd and 29th over, all but sealing South Africa’s fate. David Miller tried his best, scoring 100 runs off just 67 deliveries, but it wasn’t enough to reach the behemoth total that the Kiwis set. New Zealand won by 50 runs and confirmed their place in the finals.

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India

India’s first game was the second of the tournament, and it saw them face off against Bangladesh. They had a fantastic start, as Mohammed Shami dismantled the Tigers’ batting line-up. He took five wickets, including the dismissal of Soumya Sarkar, who was sent off for a duck in the very first over. He also dismissed Mehidy Hadan Miraz for just five runs in the seventh over. Harshit Rana took three wickets as well, including the dismissal of Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was sent off for a duck as well, in the second over. The only scare that India had was Bangladesh’s sixth wicket stand between Jaker Ali and Towhid Hridoy. The two made 154 runs, breaking the record for largest sixth wicket partnership against India in ODIs. However, Bangladesh still only managed to make 228 runs before their last wicket fell. India comfortably reached that target, losing only four wickets in the process. Shubman Gill was the star batter of the day, making 101 runs off 129 deliveries. Skipper Rohit Sharma had 41 runs before he was sent off, and KL Rahul had an unbeaten 41. India won by six wickets.

Their second match was the big one. The highly anticipated clash against long-time rivals, Pakistan. However, it wasn’t as tense and competitive as most hoped it would be. After losing both Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam before the end of the tenth over, all the pressure was on the third wicket partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel. The two made 104 runs together, but after they fell in the 34th and 35th over, the rest of Pakistan’s team collapsed soon after. Tayyab Tahir would be bowled by Jadeja after only making four runs in the 37th over. Then, Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets in the 43rd and another in the 47th. Pakistan would lose their final two wickets in the final two overs, posting a low score of only 241. An incredible unbeaten century from Virat Kohli, and a half century from Shreyas Iyer, led India to victory in just 42.3 overs.

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India’s final game of the group stage was the one against New Zealand. As aforementioned, despite posting a poor score of just 249, Varun Chakravarthy’s five-fer dismantled New Zealand’s batting line-up. Williamson was the only one to put up any resistance, scoring 81 runs. However, that wasn’t enough to reach the target. India won by 44 runs.

The Semi-finals saw India face Australia, who finished second in Group B. Despite the fact that South Africa’s finished above them, the Aussies never lost a match. Their games against South Africa and Afghanistan both ended in no contests. Thus, many believed Australia would be India’s toughest test of the tournament. However, the Aussies only managed to post a score of 264 in the first innings. Skipper Steven Smith had 73 runs, and Alex Carey had the second highest score with 61. The rest of Australia’s batting line-up couldn’t seem to get going. Shami took three wickets, including the early dismissal of Cooper Connolly, who was sent off for a duck in just the third over. Chakravarthy and Jadeja had two wickets each, while both Pandya and Patel had one. Kohli was once again the stand out batter for India, scoring a game high 84 runs. Shreyas and Rahul nearly had half centuries of their own, scoring 45 and 41 respectively. While not a complete blowout, thanks to the early wickets of Gill and Sharma, who were sent off by Ben Dwarshuis and Connolly respective, as well as Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa’s two wicket’s each, India weren’t ever in too much danger. They reached the target within 48.1 overs, confirming their place in the finals.

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Revenge or more of the same?

New Zealand have an opportunity to get revenge on this Sunday. They will be looking to hold India down to a similar score they did last time, with the hopes that they can perform better with the bat. India on the other hand will be looking for Kohli and Gill to channel the same versions of themselves that scored centuries in the group stage, in order to take some pressure off Shami and Chakravarthy on the bowling end. If India do manage to win, they will have gone through the entire tournament without losing a match. But, New Zealand won’t make things easy for them. Now that they have experienced what India has to offer, they will definitely put up a tougher fight.