On Sunday Kapil Dev praised India’s spinners for their essential contribution to the team’s Champions Trophy victory in Dubai.
India declined to visit Pakistan as host because ongoing political tensions between these hostile neighbours forced them to meet only during international events.
India played all their matches at the spin-friendly venue in Dubai which usually results in low scores and managed to restrict New Zealand to 251-7 before successfully chasing down the target with one over remaining.
Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja delivered 38 overs between them while conceding 144 runs and taking five wickets in total.
Rohit declared their spinners showed exceptional performance from the tournament’s start to its end.
When playing on a pitch like this players face huge expectations but consistently meet these standards.
We used the situation to our advantage by playing high-level cricket and maintaining consistent bowling performance throughout.
Rohit showed his appreciation for Chakravarthy after he secured five wickets against New Zealand in a group stage match and followed up with two wickets in the final against the same team.
Rohit revealed that the ‘mystery spinner’ possesses a unique skill set which includes off-break, leg-break, googly and the ‘carrom ball’ delivered with his knuckle.
He didn’t participate in the tournament’s beginnings but he took five wickets in the match against New Zealand demonstrating his bowling skills. We wanted to maximise that.”
The New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner expressed moderate satisfaction with his team’s performance in their first global tournament as an eight-team competition.
We displayed solid cricket performance today but ultimately were defeated by a superior opponent according to the spinner.
Mitchell Santner admitted they failed to overpower the Indian spinners during the middle overs of the match.
After the powerplay we lost some wickets which allowed them to tighten their grip.
The fact that they played so well demonstrates their world-class spin bowling abilities. Our score remained around 20 runs below our target because we focused on containing their batting.
The New Zealand cricket team encountered a setback before their final match when Matt Henry became unavailable due to a shoulder injury sustained during the semifinal against South Africa.