Rohit Sharma becomes fourth captain with fifty in CT final
What's the story
Rohit Sharma slammed a brilliant half-century against New Zealand in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final in Dubai.
The Indian skipper led from the front in India's run-chase of 252 in the big final. He added a century-plus opening stand with Shubman Gill, having punished the Kiwi seamers.
Rohit has become only the fourth captain with a half-century in the Champions Trophy final.
Knock
A whirlwind knock from Rohit
Rohit took on the Kiwi pacers early on. He started with a six off the second ball.
His powerful strokes were on display, which allowed Gill his due time to settle in.
Rohit did the bulk of scoring as India reached their 100. He carried on despite losing Gill and Virat Kohli.
However, he fell to Rachin Ravindra against the run of play.
Information
Pressure got the better of Rohit
NZ spinners built some pressure on India after dismissing Kohli. They bowled quite a few dot balls to Shreyas Iyer and Rohit. This prompted Rohit to go after Rachin Ravindra. However, he got stumped and departed for an 83-ball 76 (7 fours and 3 sixes).
Milestone
Rohit joins Ganguly on this list
Rohit has become the second Indian captain to have slammed a half-ton in the Champions Trophy final.
He has joined Sourav Ganguly, who slammed a century while leading in the 2000 Champions Trophy final.
Overall, Rohit is the fourth captain with a fifty in the tournament final. He has joined Ganguly, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Hansie Cronje on this elite list.
Fifty
Rohit's 58th ODI fifty
Rohit, playing his 273rd ODI, has slammed his 58th half-century in the format. He now has 90 fifty-plus scores, including a record 32 tons.
No player other than Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Rohit, has more than 30 centuries in the 50-over format, with Ricky Ponting (30) trailing Rohit.
Rohit has 11,168 runs in ODIs at 48.76.
NZ
Rohit completes 1,000 ODI runs against NZ
Rohit reached another landmark with this third run in the final.
The 37-year-old became the seventh player with 1,000-plus runs for India against New Zealand in the format.
He joins Sachin Tendulkar (1,750), Virat Kohli (1,650-plus), Virender Sehwag (1,157), Mohammad Azharuddin (1,118), Sourav Ganguly (1,079), and Rahul Dravid (1,032) on this elite list.
Rohit owns 1,073 runs from 31 matches at 38.32.
Information
Third-highest opening partnership in Champions Trophy finals
Rohit and Gill added 105 runs, now the third-highest opening partnership in Champions Trophy finals. The top-two partnerships in this regard are 141 (Ganguly and Tendulkar vs NZ, Nairobi, 2000) and 128 (Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman vs India, The Oval, 2017).
Do you know?
Rohit completes 2,500 runs in ODIs as captain
Rohit has also surpassed 2,500 ODI runs as captain. As per ESPNcricinfo, he owns 2,506 runs as captain at 52.20. This was his 17th fifty (100s: 5). He also surpassed 250 fours as captain (251).