Spinners, Rohit take India to third Champions Trophy win

Dubai: Who else but Rohit Sharma to lead the way with an authoritative innings in the final (76-83b) for India to be crowned Champions Trophy winners for the third time.

When Ravindra Jadeja flicked Will O’Rourke past fine leg in the last ball of the 49th over to get India past New Zealand’s 251 runs, Rohit, watching from the balcony, was beaming with joy. Virat Kohli exchanged hugs, Gautam Gambhir wore a smile of satisfaction in his first significant win as head coach. Youngsters Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh raced to the middle first, and along with Jadeja broke into Gangnam steps.

Soon Rohit and Kohli too would shake a leg with some dandiya moves. These are moments sportspersons live for. India will be delighted to have won two titles in a row after last year’s T20 World Cup triumph.

One shot that has been Rohit Sharma’s undoing during his recent dry run in red-ball cricket – the pull – worked for him in the second ball of India’s run chase. The transfer of weight, elevation, closing the face of the bat, dismissive in reaction as Kyle Jamieson’s bouncer sailed into the deep mid-wicket stands. Over a long career, the pull shot has been Rohit’s favourite companion. It may have led to his downfall more frequently than he would like of late, but going aerial is something the blazing batter wasn’t going to shy away from.

Certainly not in the batting mood he was in. In the next over, pacer Will O’Rourke was flicked through mid-wicket. Then he was driven past cover, both shots of pure timing. Soon he would loft Nathan Smith, replacement for the injured Matt Henry, over his head for a straight six. In between this blitz he also tried an agricultural stroke and missed, but his commitment to winning the Powerplay for the team remained unchanged.

India were off to 64/0 in the first 10 overs. New Zealand were 69/1 at that stage. Most runs came off the blade of Rohit, who got his fifty off 40 balls in the 11th over.

On the evidence of India’s bowling, batting against spin wasn’t going to be easy. But the lingering question was whether New Zealand had spinners of the same quality to do what India did to them in the group stage win? Skipper Mitchell Santner created an opening by dismissing Shubman Gill on 31 with a flighted delivery, but a lot of the credit, like is often the case with catches by Glenn Phillips, went to the flying Kiwi, who leapt at short cover and returned with a stunning one-handed grab. Michael Bracewell followed up by trapping Kohli leg before and India had lost two wickets for one runs to be 106/2.

With the pitch taking turn, it was down to Rohit to change gears and bat like he used to take India to safe waters. For a while Rohit did buckle down, but couldn’t resist when he saw an opportunity to exert pressure when Ravindra’s looping delivery was dropped a tad short. But Rohit (76 - 83b, 7x4, 3x6) was beaten in the fight to be stumped.

Shreyas Iyer had freed up Kohli throughout the tournament by getting quickly off the blocks. With Axar Patel for company, he began rebuilding, taking calculated risks. Consistent throughout this tournament, he fell to Santner, scooping straight to short-fine leg.

But KL Rahul (34*-33b) was there to anchor the chase in the closing moments.

New Zealand batters came out with the idea of not letting the Indian spinners settle. Many of them were determined to bring out the broom. But there was just so much skill among India’s spin quartet that once the surface began to grip, batters found them difficult to negotiate. If Kuldeep bowled slower in the air, Jadeja bowled faster and got the ball to skid off the surface.

Rohit saw an opportunity after Kuldeep’s twin breakthroughs – he removed Ravindra and Kane Williamson in his successive overs – early in the middle overs. He kept one of Kuldeep or Chakravarthy on from one end for most of the middle overs. India’s spin stranglehold meant there was no boundary for 14 overs, between overs 14-27. One man, Mitchell, stood between India rolling New Zealand over and them staying in the contest. Every now and then he would bring out the sweep, not necessarily to find elevation and boundary. Mitchell’s fifty came off 91 balls, slowest of his career, and in the tournament.

New Zealand managed 103/4 in the middle overs, which wasn’t many. It could have been worse. That’s how Mitchell paced his innings, letting Glenn Philips take a few more chances during their 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

They were able to post a respectable total on the back of Michael Bracewell (53*-40b) cameo. NZ scored 51 runs in the last five overs. The scoreboard would suggest that New Zealand ran India close. But with the depth of Indian batting line-up, they always looked on course.