India top Group B after Varun Chakravarthy downs New Zealand

That New Zealand were going to be India’s biggest challenge of their stay here in Dubai was as plain to see as the noses on our faces are. After comfortable wins over Bangladesh and Pakistan to secure passage to the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals, India faced up to the already-advanced Black Caps on Sunday and struggled to get to 249, but that proved far out of reach as India’s spinners, led by Varun Chakravarthy in his first game of the tournament, struck regular blows en route to figures of 5/42.

Once Kane Williamson, dropped twice during his innings of 81, was out in the 41st over, New Zealand’s chase petered out and India won by 44 runs. 

Asked to bat first, India’s batting effort was a mixed bag. Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 79 before being undone by a short ball again, Axar Patel made his third handy score (43) in four opportunities at No 4, and Hardik Pandya managed a run-a-ball 45 out of a total of 249/9 in 50 overs. Matt Henry became the first New Zealand bowler since 2004 to claim a five-wicket haul at the Champions Trophy, and three one-handed catches – a screamer from Glenn Phillips and two to Williamson – further underlined by the Black Caps are a team to be wary of. 

The match was accelerated New Zealand’s way inside the first seven overs as India’s top three all fell to pace. Henry won an lbw shout off Shubman Gill which was unsuccessfully reviewed, Rohit Sharma once again fell to the pull shot and Virat Kohli was out to an outstanding catch from Phillips at backward point. Rohit had succeeded in planting a six off Henry over midwicket, but when he tried the shot again to Kyle Jamieson the feeble attempt was pocketed by Will Young at square leg. 

Kohli survived a couple tense moments outside off stump and didn’t appear settled at the crease for the 14 balls he faced – both of his fours were mistimed shots that evaded fielders – and when he finally did middle a shot outside off, Kohli’s jaw dropped when he saw Phillips dive and pluck a one-handed stunner. This was Phillips’ second amazing catch of the tournament, which a before this match prompted a senior Indian journalist to ask the Kiwi allrounder, in obvious jest, whether he applies any glue to his palms when he fields. 

At 30/3 the need of the hour was a revival. Axar again walked out at No 5 to join Iyer who had faced two balls so far. After 15 overs, with India’s score 46/3 and 53 deliveries gone since their last boundary, Mitchell Santner brought himself on for the first sign of spin. To second ball, Axar knelt low and swept across the stumps to beat two fielders in the deep for four. In Will O’Rourke’s next over, Iyer used his crease superbly to manufacture three boundaries. 

That over set in motion a stabilizing partnership of 98 in which neither batsman hesitated to play their shots, even though the dot-ball count remained high due to some tidy bowling and fielding. A 77-meter slogged six off Michael Bracewell indicated a potential shifting of gears from Axar, but the partnership ended moments later when he was surprised by what looked like an innocuous delivery from Rachin Ravindra that took the top edge and went towards Williamson at short fine leg, who held onto the catch one-handed when running backwards. This was Ravindra’s first ODI wicket since December 2023, and eerily like how Axar dismissed Jos Buttler in an ODI in Nagpur in February. 

On 79, Iyer succumbed to a short ball from O’Rourke that rushed him into a pull shot, with the result being a straightforward catch for Young at midwicket. Rahul had advanced ninth ball faced to drill Ravindra in the air over mid-on for four, but then retracted into that proverbial shell. Not long after, he went back to a ball from Santner and feathered an edge when trying to punch a single into the offside. 

With 11 overs left in the innings, Pandya had a chance to stamp his imprint but by the time he started timing the ball it was the 49th over of the innings. Pandya got India close to 250, and Henry fittingly ended the innings with 5/42 with Pandya and Mohammed Shami’s wickets. 

A top catch at third man from Axar gave Pandya the wicket of Ravindra for 6, and Chakravarthy made his presence felt almost immediately when he spun one into Young (22) who chopped onto the stumps. Daryl Mitchell was kept scoreless for 10 deliveries, during which time he played almost every shot in the book to India’s spinners. 

Dropped on 17 by Rahul off the bowling of Axar, Williamson gauged the conditions well and threatened to produce another masterclass in chasing in tricky conditions. But the pressure of dot balls told on the others as a series of accurate deliveries produced three lbws. Mitchell (17 off 35 balls) pressed forward and missed a ball from Kuldeep Yadav; Tom Latham made a meal of an attempted reverse-sweep against Ravindra Jadeja; and Phillips and Bracewell both played all around a googlies from Chakravarthy.

Williamson had by this time faced 111 deliveries for 76 runs, and the sight of the last hope for the Black Caps, the skipper Santner, probably did not inspire much confidence. Because on 81, Williamson gave Axar the charge and was stumped to snuff out all hopes of a miraculous victory. Chakravarthy added Santner and Henry in his last over to cap a memorable Champions Trophy debut with five wickets.