India qualified for their third straight ICC Champions Trophy final after defeating Australia in the first semi-final of the 2025 edition in Dubai on Tuesday (March 4). The Men in Blue were clinical in all three departments and outplayed the Aussies.

They were given a scare when Steve Smith and Alex Carey were going great guns in the middle overs as Australia batted first after winning the toss but they managed to get wickets at regular intervals which didn’t allow the Aussies to post a match-winning score.

India lost two relatively early wickets during the chase but the pair of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer steadied the ship before KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya finished it off in style.

India has been by far the most dominant side in the tournament with four wins in as many games. Over the years, they have a tremendous record in the Champions Trophy. They were the joint winners in 2002 with Sri Lanka and were the outright winners in 2013, beating England in the final.

This will be the fifth time India will be playing a final of the Champions Trophy. While they have won two, India have come out on the losing side twice as well. Let us have a look at India’s top five knocks from the Champions Trophy finals:

This might not be one of the highest scores Jadeja has posted in ODI cricket but it was certainly one of the most impactful knocks when his team needed him the most. Due to persistent rain the 2013 CT final was reduced to a 20-over affair and the pitch looked sluggish.

Run scoring wasn’t easy and India was struggling at one stage when Virat Kohli came out and played a crucial knock to resurrect the sinking Indian ship. However when he departed, India was still struggling to post a par score and that is when Jadeja stepped in and struck some lusty blows to take the score to a competitive 129.

Jadeja played according to the game situation and took the innings deep before unleashing his shots. His knock of 33 came off just 25 deliveries and included two fours and as many sixes. Jadeja’s knock paved way for the Indian bowlers to have a go at England. They eventually managed to restrict the hosts to 124, winning the game by five runs.

Back then in 2000, the tournament was called the ICC Knockout Trophy. It was India and New Zealand who squared off in the final and the golden pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly put on a solid partnership after batting first on a good Nairobi surface.

Tendulkar, who had negated Glenn McGrath with his audacious strokeplay and sledging was at his imperious best yet again. He didn’t come out firing on all cylinders and took his time initially before getting into his groove. He struck some lovely shots around the wicket and notched up yet another half century.

He was eventually dismissed in the form of a run out after scoring an 83-ball 69, which included 10 fours and a six. Tendulkar looked in sublime touch and his wicket broke the momentum of the game. The 141-run stand between Tendulkar and Ganguly eventually went in vain as New Zealand chased down the target of 265 in the final over of the match.

# 3. Virat Kohli- 43 vs England in 2013

The 2013 Champions Trophy final was one of the most evenly contested finals in the history of the tournament. India’s crisis man in white-ball cricket, Virat Kohli stepped up and scored a crucial 43 which proved to be a matchwinning knock in the end in conditions favoring bowlers.

India kept losing wickets at the other end but Kohli was out there as a rock and played sensibly to get India past the 100-run mark. He rotated the strike in the middle overs and then struck crucial boundaries whenever the pressure was building on them.

He was dismissed in the 19th over but by then he had laid a platform for the team. His knock of 43 came off 34 deliveries and included four fours and a six. The Indian bowling unit rose to the occasion and defended the score successfully to hand India their second Champions Trophy title.

# 2. Hardik Pandya- 76 vs Pakistan in 2017

This was one of the most underrated knocks by an Indian batter in an ICC trophy final, but still the Men in Blue suffered a humiliating 180-run defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. On the back of a splendid century from Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan posted a massive score of 338 in their allotted 50 overs.

The Men in Blue were reduced to 54/5 and all seemed lost at that stage of the match. However, the youngster Hardik Pandya who had just burst onto the scene had other ideas. He put the pressure back on the Pakistan bowlers by taking them to the cleaners. He kept punishing the spinners out of the ground and ignited India’s flagging hopes.

He smashed four fours and six sixes during his belligerent knock of 76 which came off a mere 42 deliveries. It was a mix up with Ravindra Jadeja which eventually cost India the game. While he might not have won the game for India, had he gone deep in the innings, he looked like doing something special. India were eventually bowled out for 158.

# 1. Sourav Ganguly- 117 vs New Zealand in 2000

The former Indian captain Ganguly was in the form of his life during the 2000 Champions Trophy. After scoring a match-winning century against the Proteas in the semi-final, he came out all guns blazing in the final against the Kiwis as well. He started off with some crisp off side shots which fetched him boundaries and shared a 141-run stand with Tendulkar.

Ganguly wanted to bat through the innings and paced his innings quite brilliantly. He scored 117 off 130 deliveries which included nine fours and four sixes but was dismissed in the 43rd over which allowed New Zealand to claw their way back into the game.

Had Ganguly been there till the end, India would have posted well in excess of 280. New Zealand were in the firing line after losing five quick wickets for just 132 runs but a stunning counterattacking century from Chris Cairns saw them chase down the target in the final over, handing India a defeat.