‘It’s amazing…’, a unique record in the name of coach Gautam Gambhir in Indian cricket history
India won the title by defeating New Zealand by four wickets in the final of the Champions Trophy 2025. With this victory, Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir achieved a special feat. As an Indian cricketer, Gambhir has become the first player to win the ICC trophy as a player and as a coach and he has done the same feat in the IPL as well. In the ICC event, Gambhir has become the fifth person in the world to have won an ICC tournament as both a player and a coach. Earlier this achievement has been in the name of Rahul Dravid (India), Darren Lehman (Australia), Geoff Marsh (Australia) and Gary Kirsten (South Africa).
India’s spectacular victory in the final
In the final match, New Zealand batted first and scored 251 runs for 7 wickets. The Indian bowlers bowled economically and prevented New Zealand from reaching a big score. In response, captain Rohit Sharma played a brilliant innings of 76 runs, laying the foundation for India’s victory. Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya also made important contributions. In the end, Ravindra Jadeja hit a four on the last ball of the 49th over to give India the win.
This is the first big trophy for Gambhir
This victory was very special for Gautam Gambhir as it was his first ICC trophy as head coach. He took over the responsibility of the team in place of Rahul Dravid last year. Dravid led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title as a coach.
Legendary players and coaches who won ICC tournaments
Before Gambhir, Darren Lehmann led Australia to win the 2015 World Cup, while he was also part of the World Cup-winning team in 1999 and 2003 as a player. Geoff Marsh led Australia to the World Cup win in 1999 as a coach and won the World Cup as a player in 1987. At the same time, Gary Kirsten played an important role in helping India win the World Cup in 2011, while as a player he was part of the 1998 Champions Trophy-winning South African team.
The journey was challenging for Gambhir
There was a lot of pressure on Gambhir initially. India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka under his leadership, then lost the home Test to New Zealand, and also lost the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia. However, before the Champions Trophy, India gained momentum by winning the ODI and T20 series against England. Then, performing brilliantly in the tournament, the team won all the matches and made it to the final by defeating Australia in the semi-finals.
