Paltan, three wins in three matches in the Champions Trophy 2025! Kasa vattay?

Shreyas Iyer continued his impeccable form against New Zealand, scoring an invaluable half-century. However, Varun Chakaravarthy grabbed all the headlines with a mesmerizing five-for as India secured the top spot in Group A.

As a result, the Men in Blue set up a semi-final clash against Australia in Dubai on Tuesday, 4th March.

A tough start & Kiwi fielding excellence

Matt Henry is a formidable opponent, especially in the powerplay, and let’s just say we saw another glimpse of it on Sunday.

The Kiwi speedster trapped in-form Shubman Gill LBW before आपला Hitman was caught of Kyle Jamieson’s bowling.

Soon, Virat Kohli was dismissed too. That catch from Glenn Phillips at point - hat’s off, it was 🔝 class!

Shreyas vs New Zealand म्हणजे FIREEE!

With Team India in a spot of bother at 3/30, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel came in clutch with a rescue act.

Shreyas’ 105 at Wankhede in CWC 23 is still fresh in the Paltan’s minds. Yet again, F-Iyer delivered in a crunch moment against the Kiwis.

The duo rode the storm early in the partnership before Shreyas upped the ante. Axar, later, joined in as they stitched 98 runs in 136 balls. Masta khelle, rao! 👏

While Axar was dismissed for a well-made 42, Shreyas made it back-to-back 50+ scores against New Zealand in ODIs. His 79 (98) helped India consolidate in the middle overs.

Pandya Power in Dubai…

While the Kiwi pacers kept a check on the scoring rate after Shreyas’ dismissal, we got a dose of Pandya Power in the closing stages.

With some trademark shots, HP moved from 14* (21) to finish a run-a-ball 45. Hardik’s झकास two fours and one six in the penultimate over gave us a much-needed boost.

… A Hardik Bowling Shuruaat!

Finishing with the bat and kicking it off with the ball - we’ve gotten used to this version of Hardik!

His well-directed bouncer got Rachin Ravindra to play an uncontrolled upper cut, which was phenomenally caught by Axar.

You wanna watch it again too? Well, here you go ⬇️

The caption says it all 🔥

Spin it to win it… Varun in Dubai edition

Cometh the hour, cometh Varun Chakaravarthy with a highlight spell in the nascent stage of his ODI career.

A sharp delivery, spinning into the right-hander, got rid of Will Young. The mystery remained unsolvable for the Kiwis as he came back for a second spell to trap Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell to put India in the driver’s seat.

Varun followed it up with two wickets in his final over - Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry - to complete a memorable five-for. Nusta Rada!

Fakta Varun navta, barr ka? Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja also derailed the New Zealand middle order with their guile. Kuldeep finished it off in style, knocking over Will O’Rourke to make it an unbeaten finish in the group stage.

Brief scores: India 249/9 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79; Matt Henry 5/42) beat New Zealand 205/10 in 45.3 overs (Kane Williamson 81; Varun Chakaravarthy 5/42) by 44 runs.