Champions Trophy: In the final of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand, Team India made a great comeback on the strength of its spinners. After a good start without any trouble against the fast bowlers, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav won accolades by taking a flurry of wickets. But apart from these two, the team’s most senior spinner Ravindra Jadeja also showed his magic and ended his wait of 12 years. Yes, after almost 12 years, Ravindra Jadeja took a wicket in the ICC final.
Jadeja got a wicket after 12 years
In this final at Dubai International Stadium, New Zealand batted first and lost 3 wickets for 75 runs. At such a time, Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell were seen making a strong partnership. He had taken the team past the 100-run mark. At such a time, India needed wickets and this job was done by left-arm spinner Jadeja. In the 24th over of the innings, Jadeja dismissed experienced batsman Latham LBW and sent him to the pavilion.
This was the fourth wicket of New Zealand’s innings but for Jadeja it was a wicket that came after 12 years. Yes, Jadeja, who has been playing for Team India for the last 13-14 years, had not taken any wicket in the final of any ICC event in the last 12 years.
Jadeja could not take a wicket in the finals of T20 World Cup 2024, ODI World Cup 2023, Champions Trophy 2017 and before that T20 World Cup 2014. Incidentally, his last wicket came in the final of Champions Trophy 2013, which Team India won and he became the Player of the Match.
Second victim in 8 days
Not only this, Jadeja dismissed Tom Latham for the second time in 8 days. Earlier, in the group match between the two teams on March 2, Jadeja had also made Latham his victim.This was Jadeja’s fifth wicket in this tournament. His wicket count could have been higher if some catches off his balls in the final were not short.
Apart from Jadeja, if we talk about other bowlers, then everyone’s eyes were on Varun Chakravarthy for this final, who took 5 wickets in the group match against New Zealand and then bowled brilliantly in the semi-finals as well. Varun did not disappoint and gave Team India its first success. Kuldeep Yadav, who was facing constant criticism, also took two big wickets and pushed New Zealand on the back foot.