Kuldeep Yadav was not at his best with the ball, but when it mattered most, the wrist spinner delivered in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final between India and New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Sunday, March 9.
Kuldeep Yadav played a key role in India’s remarkable four-wicket win over the Black Caps in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final in Dubai. After winning the first ICC ODI title after 12 years, India became the most successful team in the history of the Champions Trophy with three titles.
Kuldeep Yadav’s double strike takes India to ICC Champions Trophy 2025 glory
The chinaman bowler helped the Men in Blue to break through New Zealand’s batting lineup by dismissing their dangerous opener Rachin Ravindra (37 runs off 29 balls) and in-form batting icon Kane Williamson (11 runs off 14 balls) in the summit clash.
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Kuldeep finished the victorious ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with seven wickets in five matches at an average of over 31. After winning the trophy, the wrist spinner showered rich praise on the Indian captain Rohit Sharma for remarkably managing four spinners in the tournament.
The Men in Blue decided to stick with four spinners Kuldeep, Varun Chakravarthy (9 wickets), Ravindra Jadeja (5 wickets) and Axar Patel (5 wickets) throughout the ICC Champions Trophy and this move proved fruitful, as they played a key role in India’s title triumph in Dubai.
Kuldeep Yadav hails Rohit Sharma for amazingly managing four spinners in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025
The Chinaman bowler praised Rohit Sharma’s smart strategy in handling four spinners. He said it was not easy, but the skipper managed perfectly. Kuldeep Yadav was quoted as saying by Sky Sports, “It’s very difficult to manage four spinners, and the way he managed, it was amazing to see. When four spinners are playing together, it is very hard to rotate any of them.”
The 30-year-old spinner further explained, “Obviously, the planning was going on; we played our last game in Dubai on March 4, and we got plenty, like four or five days of break, and then we had a chat about how we go about this game. The plan for me and Varun was to bowl to the new batter. We wanted to finish Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel’s over before Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell came to bat.”
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Rohit Sharma wants me to create some magic: Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep also revealed how Rohit trusted him with an important role. In the semifinal against Australia, the wrist spinner said that Rohit told him that he was the best option for him to dismiss Travis Head and gave him a free hand to get him the wicket, even at the expense of a few big shots.
However, in the final, Varun got the first breakthrough, dismissing Will Young, and Kuldeep was tasked to unsettle the settled Ravindra, so everything was part of a well-planned strategy. He also revealed that Rohit doesn’t care if he goes for runs to get him the wicket.
Kuldeep signed off by saying, “100 percent, because he believes that I’m an attacking spinner and he wants me to create some magic on the field. He wants me to take wickets in the middle overs.”
