Champions Trophy final: ‘Tinpot’ tournament gets the winner it deserves

Already the best one-day side in the world, they did not need the advantage of knowing that they would play all their fixtures in the UAE, whereas every other participant had to adapt to different playing surfaces and uncertainty concerning their travel arrangements.

Money talks louder than sporting integrity, and just as the Indian cricket board increasingly does as it likes off the field, the cricketing equivalent of the Trump administration, so India’s players invariably do as they like on the pitch, a magnificent team with no obvious weakness.

After restricting New Zealand to 251-7 on a good batting pitch, they won by four wickets with an over to spare, the Kiwis fighting gamely (as the Kiwis always do) but unable to stop the juggernaut before which the rest of the cricket world bows.

At least a ‘tinpot’ tournament - one resurrected solely for financial purposes eight years after its celebrated demise - got the winner it so richly deserved.

On a day when the desert was turned into a sea of blue, with India’s vibrant support holding sway in the stands, New Zealand began well, reaching 57 before they lost their first wicket in the eighth over after choosing to bat.

Varun Chakravarthy, the leg-spinner, trapped Will Young lbw, four balls after having Rachin Ravindra dropped at deep square by Shreyas Iyer. It was all-action stuff from Ravindra, who hit 37 from 29 balls and was also dropped by Mohammed Shami in his follow-through, as well as adjudged caught down the leg-side off Chakravarthy, only to successfully overturn that decision before misjudging Kuldeep Yadav’s googly.

As when these sides met in the group stage, India’s spinners were excellent. Kuldeep struck again when Kane Williamson chipped back a return, and Ravindra Jadeja trapped Tom Latham lbw on the sweep. Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips added 57 for the fifth wicket, each benefiting from a dropped catch in a sloppy fielding display by India, who spilled four in total.

Chakravarthy returned to bowl Phillips with a googly, and although Mitchell went on to the top score of 63, the fact that he faced 101 balls and hit three fours emphasised the quality of the bowling, his innings ending when he chipped Shami to cover.

Michael Bracewell’s unbeaten 53 from 40 gave the Kiwis hope but in the absence through injury of Matt Henry, their leading bowler, it was of the clutching-at-straws variety.

Rohit Sharma, the India captain, who was last week criticised by one of the country’s politicians for being “fat for a sportsperson”, made his critics eat their words with the top score of 76 (clearly that politician has never heard of W.G. Grace).

Sharma raced to a 41-ball fifty with five fours and three sixes, sharing 105 for the first wicket with Shubman Gill inside 19 overs.

Another sensational catch by Glenn Phillips, the fielder of the competition, a leaping, one-handed effort at mid-off to dismiss Gill off Mitchell Santner, triggered an uneasy path to victory from that point. Virat Kohli fell cheaply, and Sharma had a rush of blood and was stumped to leave India 122-3, grateful then for a stand of 61 between Shreyas and Axar Patel.

Both perished when well-set, Patel to a catch at long-off by Will O’Rourke, who went wicketless on a tough day for Yorkshire present and past, with Williamson unable to field due to a quad injury.

Hardik Pandya spooned one up in the air but KL Rahul and Jadeja saw India home, concluding one of the most unsatisfactory competitions ever played.