Rohit Sharma, towards the latter half of his ODI career, left his mark on history as one of India's greatest captains by claiming his second ICC title with an Indian victory in the Champions Trophy final over New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Under his captaincy, India won their second ICC title in a period of nine months, after their victory 2024 T20 World Cup over South Africa in Bridgetown.
This win also represented India's fourth straight ICC final appearance in under two years, after the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC), the 2023 ODI World Cup, and the 2024 T20 World Cup. With this win, Rohit became the first international cricket captain to take his team into the final of all four senior ICC events.
India's victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup with Rohit as captain put an end to their ICC trophy drought since their 2013 Champions Trophy victory under MS Dhoni.
Dhoni is the record holder of India's most successful captain with three ICC titles— the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. However, Rohit has now joined an exclusive group with two ICC titles within a period of less than a year, surpassing veteran captains such as Sourav Ganguly (2002 Champions Trophy) and Kapil Dev (1983 ODI World Cup).
Rohit was the anchor man in the final, laying the platform for India's 252-run chase with a match-winning 76-run innings. Shreyas Iyer (48) and K.L. Rahul (34*) and important cameos from Axar Patel (29) and Hardik Pandya (18) took India to the finish an over ahead of schedule in an edge-of-the-seat encounter.
India, with this victory, became the first team to lift the Champions Trophy for the third time in the eight-team edition of the competition.
The date 9 March 2025 became another golden letter day in Indian cricket, the day on which India won an ICC tournament.
- 25th June 1983 -- first World Cup by Kapi's Devils
- 24th September 2007 -- first T20 World Cup in South Africa
- 2nd April 2011 -- Second ODI World Cup title in Mumbai
- 23rd June 2013 -- Champions Trophy title under MS Dhoni's captaincy
- 29th June 2024 -- Second T20 World Cup title under Rohit Sharma's captaincy
- 9th March 2025 -- Third Champions Trophy title
