We played a perfect game – Rohit Sharma on India’s win against New Zealand

India remained unbeaten in the group stages of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy as they secured an emphatic win against New Zealand last night. Despite the batters struggling on a slow track, the bowlers came together, spearheaded by Varun Chakravarthy to defend a modest total.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma was happy with the result of the game and talking at the post-match presentation, he pointed out that the partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel played a crucial role in crafting India’s fightback.

“NZ are a good team who are playing some good cricket. Very important to get a good result, we played a perfect game. It was important at that stage (after being 30/3) to build a partnership, and I thought we got to a good total. We have the quality in our bowling to defend that total.”

He also underlined the fact how he had confidence in Varun Chakravarthy to get the job done. Pinpointing Chakravarthy’s brilliance and the importance of the victory, Rohit said, “He has something different about him, so wanted to try and see what he can offer. We haven't thought much about the next game, but good headache to have. Critical to possibly win every game and doing everything right in a short tournament. Important to correct mistakes quickly, and that's where we know if your team is going up or going down.”

He concluded with a word for the semi-finals which India will be playing against Australia tomorrow. He said, “It will be a good game, Australia has a rich history of playing ICC tournaments well, but is about us and what we want to do well on that particular day. It will be a great contest, looking forward to that. Hopefully we can stitch one towards us.”