'Kuldeep Yadav Strikes Back: Dismisses Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson after New Zealand's strong start'

New Zealand's main batting strength in the ICC Champions Trophy final was expected to be the duo of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, who had recently put up a match-winning partnership of 164 runs against South Africa in the semifinals. However, Kuldeep Yadav delivered a crucial blow to the Kiwis by getting rid of both their top batsmen in quick succession at the beginning of his spell on Sunday in Dubai.

After a fast, chancey start for Ravindra, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed the talented southpaw with his first ball of the match, sliding a delivery through the bat-pad gap to leave the Kiwis on 69-2. In his next over, he removed Williamson with a regulation leg-spinner that stopped a touch on the Kiwi great, who went through his shot a bit too early and ended up providing a simple return catch to Kuldeep.

Rohit Sharma introduced Kuldeep in the eleventh over of the innings. With his very first delivery, Kuldeep dished out a big googly, and it was completely misread by the high-flying Ravindra, batting on 37. Pitching on off stump, Ravindra went back and tried to play it through the covers, but the ball jagged back in at his pads, clipping them before rattling into the stump. Ravindra was dismissed for 37(29), an innings with four boundaries and one crisply-hit maximum.

The Kiwis were then dealt a double blow, with Kuldeep outfoxing a terrific player of spin in Kane Williamson.

Rachin can't capitalise on bonus life

Earlier in the innings, Ravindra did ride his luck a touch, being dropped on 28 and again on 29. Both were difficult chances, with the first being hit back towards bowler Mohammed Shami at pace, who could not make it stick in the follow-through.

Soon after, Ravindra tried to slog Varun Chakaravarthy, and while Shreyas Iyer made the distance from the square leg boundary and got his hands to the ball, he couldn’t hold on to the catch.

Thankfully for India, Ravindra wasn’t able to make them pay, with Kuldeep’s introduction doing the trick in what has been a relatively quiet tournament for him so far. The leg-spinner continued to have an impact, ensuring Williamson didn’t get set early in his innings. Williamson only scored 11(13), before one just caught something of a leading edge, and presented the simplest of catches to Kuldeep.

Kuldeep's double-wicket drew some interesting reactions on social media. "HUM BHI KHELNE AAYE HAI" - Kuldeep Yadav (2025)," wrote a fan on X, indicating Kuldeep's below part on ICC knockout matches.

The wickets left the Kiwis on 76/3, having lost Will Young to a drifting leg-spinner from Varun Chakravarthy earlier in the innings, and firmly putting India in the driver’s seat after Mitchell Santner had asked them to chase in this crucial final.

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