Rohit Sharma’s first half-century in an ICC event summit match in the 2025 Champions Trophy final has been praised by a former India player. He pointed out that every time their skipper plays a big innings, India is all but guaranteed to win.
During the 2025 Champions Trophy final at Dubai New Zealand selected batting first to challenge India with a score of 252 runs. Rohit guided India to their third Champions Trophy victory by record-setting his fourth-wicket partnership against New Zealand with 76 runs through 83 balls.
The former India opener shared his praise of Rohit’s successful tournament performance in a video featured on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’.
“There was a big question. He has such a great legacy, but he had never scored a half-century in an ICC final. You expect that from him as he is that kind of a player, that he would score it sometime or other. He hadn’t scored too many runs in the entire Champions Trophy. He had given explosive starts, but only the trailer was seen, we hadn’t seen the entire picture.”
Aakash Chopra
“Then cometh the hour, cometh the man. With Rohit Sharma’s game, you should always assume that until he is there, it doesn’t seem like there is any help on the pitch and the opposition is putting pressure on you because he keeps hitting. His presence is enough to steer the game in India’s favor.”
Aakash Chopra
In the 2025 Champions Trophy Rohit Sharma has accumulated 104 runs averaging 26.00 through his four innings leading up to the final stage. His beginning to each game typically went well and his best performance resulted in a 41-run batter against Bangladesh in India’s first match.
Aakash Chopra Hails Rohit Sharma’s Ruthless Attack on NZ’s Fast Bowlers
Aakash Chopra said in the same video that Rohit Sharma continued his incredible record as India’s captain in ICC white-ball competitions and completely destroyed the New Zealand seamers in the 2025 Champions Trophy final.
“His first scoring shot was a six. After that, he hit the fast bowlers out of the attack. He batted like that, hit huge sixes. It’s not only the batting. As Rohit Sharma is the captain, he has prepared a beautiful legacy. Since the 2022 Adelaide loss, he has dropped only one game as a captain,”
Aakash Chopra
The former cricket player who is now a commentator praised the Indian captain for setting a good example.
“He is the captain who doesn’t only talk about playing with a different template, but shows it by doing it. There isn’t much difference between what he says and what he does. He consistently keeps hitting and tells everyone that they will play like this only as this is now their philosophy,” Chopra elaborated.
Aakash Chopra
Since Rohit Sharma took command of India’s team they have lost only three ICC white-ball matches. India lost games during the group stage against South Africa and the semifinals to England in the 2022 T20 World Cup and the final against Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
