Champions Trophy 2025: Key takeaways from Team India's victorious campaign
10 Mar 2025

On March 9, India became the first side to win the ICC Champions Trophy thrice.

The Rohit Sharma-led Team India tamed New Zealand in a one-sided 2025 Champions Trophy final in Dubai. The Men in Blue chased down 252 to lift the cup.

With this, India claimed their seventh ICC title, the second-most for a side.

Here are the key takeaways from their campaign.

Rohit's fiery starts power India
#1

Although skipper Rohit didn't finish among the run-scorers, it was his power-packed starts that laid the foundation for India's wins.

His only fifty-plus score came in the final, and it was pivotal to their win. His 76-run knock on a sluggish Dubai wicket dented the Kiwis.

He straightaway went after the NZ seamers, as was the case throughout the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Varun Chakravarthy: A revelation
#2

Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was a late entrant to India's Champions Trophy squad.

He made his tournament debut in the league game against NZ. He straightaway made a mark by recording a fifer.

He took two wickets in the semi-final against Australia.

Playing just three games, Chakravarthy finished as India's joint second-highest wicket-taker of CT 2025, with Mohammed Shami (9).

India's four-pronged spin attack
Fact

Chakravarthy's inclusion helped captain Rohit field a four-pronged spin attack in the tournament. Barring the first two games, India had four spinners in their XI in the form of Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja.

Shami, Hardik share new ball
#4

Harshit Rana shared the new ball with Shami in the first two matches.

However, the former was replaced with Chakravarthy thereafter. This promoted Hardik Pandya as Shami's new-ball partner, and he did a decent job.

Meanwhile, Shami topped the wickets column for Indian pacers. There were doubts over his fitness before the tournament, but he shut the critics with 5/53 against Bangladesh.

Shreyas Iyer: India's key to tackle spin
#5

While Indian spinners continued to hog the limelight, Shreyas Iyer stood out with the bat against spin-bowling.

He stepped up everytime India were in trouble in the middle overs. Although he failed to reach three figures, his clutch knocks made headlines.

Iyer finished as India's highest run-scorer in the tournament (243 runs at 48.60 with two half-centuries).