Mitchell Santner praises Rohit Sharma after 2025 Champions Trophy final, says he puts fear in bowlers

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner showered praise on Rohit Sharma after the 2025 Champions Trophy final against India. The Men in Blue registered a four-wicket win against the Kiwis at Dubai on Sunday while chasing 252 runs.

Rohit Sharma played an instrumental role in the run-chase, scoring a match-winning knock of 76 runs off 83 balls in the summit clash. The Indian captain was able to give a solid start to his team and added 105 runs for the opening alliance with Shubman Gill. 

Rohit was able to put India in front as he batted aggressively in the Powerplay overs and scored seven fours and three sixes in his match-winning knock.

Santner said after the loss, “I guess if you would ask Rohit before the tournament which game he’d like to score the most runs, it’d probably be the final. But I think his approach, he puts fear in bowlers. They’re kind of aggressive in nature. I think him and Shubman dovetail well. Shubman will wait for a bad ball, but Rohit is pretty happy to hit bowlers off their lengths.”

The all-rounder added, “And I guess the way he goes about it, you might fail a few times, but, like he did today, if you can really get your team off to a flyer, especially on a slow wicket, you put yourself kind of ahead of the game. And like their power play with the bat was good, and then, you know, I guess we’re kind of on the back foot from there with him being probably 100 for none.

Santner, who has taken giant strides with the ball in the last couple of seasons, was disappointed after his team could not cross the final hurdle against India.

“I guess it’s kind of bittersweet at the end. I think we came up against a good side in the final but yeah you know we challenged in there at times throughout this game, which was pleasing and I think there was 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,” said Santner via the aforementioned source.

New Zealand will next host Pakistan for five T20Is and three ODIs.