‘The conditions were…’: Mitchell Santner makes BOLD judgement on ‘Dubai Conditions’ after Champions Trophy defeat
Santner's remark on Dubai pitches after champions Trophy
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner accepted that Rohit Sharma played a match-turning knock in the Champions Trophy 2025 final, and labelled the four-wicket defeat as a “bittersweet end.” Rohit scored 76 runs fluently in 83 balls as India successfully chased down their target of 252 runs.
“I think the way Rohit Sharma played kind of took it away from us, I think, obviously, India here understood the conditions in Dubai perfectly and played some good cricket. Yeah I guess it’s kind of bittersweet at the end,” said Santner in the post-match press conference.
“I think we came up against a good side in the final. We challenged at times throughout this game, which was pleasing and I think there were probably a couple of small moments where we let it get away from us. But yeah, incredibly proud of this group the way we’ve kind of gone about it throughout this tournament,” he added.
Santner stated that his team was ready to face how the pitch and conditions of the Dubai International Stadium turned out, as they were very different from the conditions of Lahore which was the venue of their semifinal clash.
“I guess we just keep coming up against India, which is always a challenge. We knew the conditions were going to be slightly different again from the semifinal, but we were ready for that. I thought we still put in a pretty good performance, and we took India deep. But I guess there’s always a few moments in every game, let alone every final, where you can potentially look back at,” he said.
The Indian team won the Champions Trophy 2025 by 4 wickets. The Men in Blue secured the clash by the end of the match, helping the team win the title. India got the better of New Zealand, as the team managed to complete their target with 4 wickets remaining. This victory marks victory for India in a Champions Trophy after 12 years, as the team won their last title in the 2013 edition.