Black Caps v India: Rachin Ravindra named player of the Champions Trophy after defeat in final

New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India's captain Rohit Sharma during the ICC Champions Trophy final. Photo / AFP

It was no doubt the piece of silverware that Black Caps allrounder Rachin Ravindra had no interest in when he walked out to play in his maiden ICC final.

As the Black Caps stood around waiting for the trophy presentation following their four-wicket defeat to India in the Champions Trophy in Dubai, and claim their fourth runners-up medal at an ICC men’s event, Ravindra was called up to accept the player of the tournament award.

The 25-year-old missed the opening game with injury but still finished the top run-scorer of the Champions Trophy with 263 across four matches including centuries against Bangladesh in pool play and South Africa in the semifinals.

He couldn’t quite produce that magic in the final, making 37 from 29 balls at the top of the order before he was bowled by spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the 11th over.

Ravindra then played a key role with the ball, bowling 10 overs for the first time in 20 matches, finishing with 1-47 including the wicket of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

But India were never really in danger as they chased down New Zealand’s target of 252 with six balls remaining.

“Certainly is bittersweet,” Ravindra said after accepting player of the tournament award.

“Was a glorious final. The individual accolades are great and playing for a team is great,” he added.

Two years after making his first impression on the world stage with three centuries at the 2023 World Cup, Ravindra again stepped up at an ICC event to lead the Black Caps into the final.

“I like playing tournament cricket because you are playing for a goal. Very proud of my past. Have so many people to thank. It would have been nice to have the icing on the cake with the trophy but cricket is a cruel game.

“All members of the squad have a part to play. There isn’t an established player or a newbie. We go about our business and play like a team.”

Ravindra joins Martin Crowe (1992 ODI World Cup), Kane Williamson (2019 ODI World Cup), Nicola Browne (2010 T20 World Cup), Suzie Bates (2013 ODI World Cup) and Amelia Kerr (2024 T20 World Cup) as New Zealanders to win the player of the tournament award at an ICC event.

Black Caps skipper captain Mitchell Santner said they fell 25 runs short of their target total with India taking control in the middle overs of New Zealand’s innings. Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja combined to bowl 38 overs, taking five wickets at an economy rate of less than four between them.

“It was good bowling,” Santner said when asked about why runs were hard to come by in parts of the game.

“We lost a couple of wickets after the powerplay and then they really got the squeeze on.

“It looked challenging to start with but credit to the way their spinners bowled, all four of them. They are world class bowlers, and they showed that again today.

“In the end, we were probably 20 under, maybe 25 under from what we wanted to get but we knew we had a total and we were going to fight and that is what we did.”