The Champions Trophy final on Sunday (March 9) ended with India winning their third title. Here are the tactical calls that defined the match.
New Zealand's Matt Henry replacement
Matt Henry's fitness for the final was in doubt from the moment he clutched his shoulder taking Heinrich Klaasen's catch in the semi-final. New Zealand chose Nathan Smith, the seam-bowling all-rounder over the specialist seamer (Jacob Duffy) or the extra batter (Mark Chapman or Devon Conway). Smith ended up facing one ball and bowling two wicketless overs for 22 runs.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but on a wicket that was almost guaranteed to be slow New Zealand had four spin options in their lineup anyway – which they did trust. The extra pacer was unlikely to add much, but a batter like Chapman may have allowed Daryl Mitchell to take on the bowling earlier in the first innings, and take the load off Glenn Phillips in terms of death-overs hitting.
India's two extra overs of pace
In the first innings, India's pacers were punished in the first 10 overs as New Zealand made it to 69-1. The four spinners did their usual containment job through the middle, but the last 10 overs went for 79 as Michael Bracewell went berserk.
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Five of those last 10 were bowled by the quicks, who went for 58 runs on a wicket that had little help for them. You wonder if Axar Patel, who did not complete his quota, could have bowled two of those instead. With Bracewell and Mitchell Santner, both left-handers, at the crease for a while, it is quite plain why it didn't happen but it's not wild to suggest it could have saved 10 runs or so.
India delaying Axar behind Chakravarthy and Kuldeep
Like they did in the semi-final, India switched up the order in which their spinners entered the attack. Having gone with Axar Patel usually a couple of overs before the end of the first 10 overs, both knockout matches saw them use another spinner first.
Both times, this was done to counter a left-handed opener who was off to a good start – Kuldeep Yadav to Travis Head in the semi-final, and Varun Chakravarthy to Rachin Ravindra in the final. Coincidentally, it was Varun who got Head, and Kuldeep who got Ravindra in these matches, both off the first ball the batters faced from them.
Santner's timing of Bracewell and Ravindra's spells
Mitchell Santner not only bowled (another) solid 10 over spell, but also as captain, shuffled his resources around well. Off-spinner Michael Bracewell was held back as Santner and Rachin Ravindra bowled to the right-handers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma. As soon as Gill was dismissed, Bracewell was introduced – and repaid his captain's faith with the massive wicket of Virat Kohli.
Santner also chose his moment well to bring Ravindra, his third spinner, back for a second spell. After the double strike of Gill and Kohli, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer made it clear they were about to consolidate. Back came Ravindra, to get through a few quiet overs so Santner and Bracewell could be delayed in case the pair got set. As it happened, Ravindra ended up with the bonus wicket of Rohit.
New Zealand overbowling Glenn Phillips
At the same time, Santner perhaps persisted too long with Glenn Phillips. He was (understandably) the loosest of the four spinners, but ended up bowling five overs through the middle, for 31 runs.
With little to play with after posting 251 and conceding a 64-0 first powerplay, front-loading the frontline spinners might have been the wiser option. Phillips may have been harder to hit at the death than New Zealand's quicks, and in the last 10 overs could have had the insurance of an extra fielder outside the 30-yard circle.
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