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New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner had special words of praise in store for his counterpart India skipper Rohit Sharma, who played a ctook the Champions Trophy from their palm in Dubai on Sunday.
Rohit, known for unleashing destruction from the start, lived up to his reputation against the high-flying Kiwis in the high-stakes Champions Trophy final. In the 105-run opening stand, he raised with Shubman Gill; Rohit played the aggressor role and took the fight to New Zealand's clinical bowling unit. Rohit left the spectators mesmerised with a swashbuckling 76(83). While Rohit broke the back of New Zealand's defence and title hopes, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer filled India's chase by chipping in with valuable 34* and 48, respectively. "The powerplay was the best time to bat, Rohit and Gill cashed in, Rohit's inning was outstanding, and it put us on the back foot, but we knew the game could change quickly, and we kept chipping away at the wickets and stayed in the game," Santner said in the post-match presentation. When New Zealand needed a breakthrough, Santner threw himself into the thick of the action and killed the opening stand courtesy of a one-handed stunner from the man-in-form Glenn Phillips. "He keeps doing it, doesn't he?" he said while reacting to fielding heroics from Phillips. After winning the toss and opting to bat, New Zealand relished a swift start from Rachin Ravindra and Will Young. But things started to fall apart after mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy broke the opening stand. Runs started to dry up as Indian spinners, comprising Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja, put a lid on New Zealand's scoring rate. Daryl Mitchell (63) and Michael Bracewell (53*) lifted the spirits as New Zealand limped to a fighting total. "It was good bowling. We lost a couple of wickets after the powerplay. Credit to the way their spinners bowled, all four of them were world-class. We were 25 under, but we had a total; we tried to fight, and that's what we did," he added. Even though New Zealand's campaign ended with tears of sadness, Rachin Ravindra's stellar performances caught the eye of the world. He tonked two splendid centuries and was crowned Player of the Tournament. "We have seen how he (Rachin) steps up in these major events; he has been outstanding with the ball and even GP. He understands his game at such a young age and even put pressure on India early on. It has been enjoyable and made easier by the group, and I can't thank the boys enough. We have adjusted to different wickets, so close, but it has been a great tournament," he said. While recapping the tournament, Santner was pleased with how things unravelled for them throughout the tournament and admitted a "good" side beat the Blackcaps. "It has been a good tournament. We had challenges along the way, but we have grown as a group and played some good cricket. We were beaten by a good side who turned up today. There was a lot of good stuff from our group, guys stepping up at different times, and that's all you can ask as a captain," he added. (ANI)
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