Former Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson pulled off a superb one-handed catch to dismiss Axar Patel off Mitchell Santner in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025 Group A clash between India and New Zealand.
He went one better with his next catch in the match by diving to his weak side and plucking out Ravindra Jadeja’s slash through backward square with a stunning effort.
Anticipating that Jadeja would play Matt Henry’s good length near him, Williamson was off in a flash and took the catch while being airborne as India lost their seventh wicket just when the partnership between Jadeja and Pandya was growing.
India, who dominated the first two matches of the Champions Trophy against neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan, were far from their best against New Zealand as their batters endured a tough day out.
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It involved some electric fielding and disciplined bowling from the Kiwis that kept India on the back foot from the start. Matt Henry struck the first blow in the third over when he trapped in-form Shubman Gill’s leg before. Then it was captain Rohit Sharma who was bamboozled by Kyle Jamieson in the sixth over as he hit the ball straight to Will Young for a simple catch.
Before India could recover, a sensational catch left Virat Kohli and the Indian fans at the Dubai International Stadium dumbfounded.
Kohli tried to drive through the square against Henry when Phillips fielding at point flew into the air and grabbed the fast-travelling ball out of thin air.
Shreyas Iyer (79) and Axar Patel (42) steadied the ship for India with a partnership of 98 runs for the fourth wicket before Williamson’s keen eye and Rachin’s good bowling brought an end to Axar’s innings.
India fought back through another brief partnership of 44 runs between Iyer and KL Rahul (23) but Will O’Rourke dismissed Iyer to halt the resistance.
Hardik Pandya (45) played a well-paced innings in 45 balls as he took India closer to a score of 250 but Matt Henry returned for a final spell to snap that momentum.
Henry got rid of Jadeja and then Pandya as the eighth wicket as he finished 5-42 from his eight overs and India at 249/9 in 50 overs.
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