Champions Trophy final: Spin quartet choke the Kiwis on a dry surface

A spin quartet on the money, coupled with a dry surface, was a potent combination to keep New Zealand in check in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday. The four struck in regular intervals, except a dour fifth-wicket stand between Daryll Mitchell and Glenn Phillips while a quickfire 51 by Michael Bracewell eventually helped them to a respectable total of 251 for seven.

 Despite holding their innings together after they lost the in-form Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson in quick succession, the Mitchell-Phillips pair could be questioned for not giving the rival spinners the charge. A lot of the credit for that goes to the Indian spinners as Rohit Sharma kept either of his wrist spinners on from one end and alternated between his two left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

The powerfully built Bracewell, who came in at No.7, made full use of the pace available in the backend of the innings to take his side past the 250-mark. The Indian catching, which stood at a medicore 71% before the final, were quite slipshod again this afternoon as they dropped four catches.

There is no doubt that the gamble of including Varun Chakravarthy in the final 15, that too in place of the prolific Yashasvi Jaiswal, turned out to be the masterstroke. If the wrist spinner from Chennai had for long endured some ridicule for being called a ‘mystery spinner’, the latebloomer is having the last laugh now.

 While Kuldeep Yadav struck double blows to remove Rachin and Kane, it was Varun who kept the rival batters guessing all the time. The other day, Kiwi head coach Gary Stead termed him as the ‘big threat’ after Varun’s 5-42 in the league game and said they were planning on how to neutralise him. As things panned out, they were yet to find a solution as he continued to mesmerise the Black Caps with his mix of traditional leg spin, googly and the faster one which hurries into the batters almost like a yorker.

 The morning did not quite show the day for Kiwis who got lucky with the toss and were off to a fluent start. Rachin and Will Young stitched 57 runs for the opening wicket, the most against India in the ongoing tournament, before Rohit turned to Varun in the powerplay to apply the brakes.

 New Zealand suffered a setback when Matt Henry, their injured pacer who claimed a fifer against India in the league game, could not recover in time for a shoulder injury sustained during the semi-final against South Africa. Henry was replaced by Nathan Smith in the playing XI while India featured an unchanged team.