India beat New Zealand in their final 2025 ICC Champions Trophy Group A encounter in Dubai. An incredible bowling display from spinners, especially Varun Chakravarthy, helped India defend 249. His fifer defied Kane Williamson's innings-defining 81. India were earlier powered by a 79-run knock from Shreyas Iyer, while Matt Henry took five wickets. Table-toppers India will now face Australia in the first semi-final. India were in trouble after NZ invited them to bat. Their openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma departed early, while a stunning catch by Glenn Phillips dismissed Virat Kohli soon after. Iyer and Axar Patel added a 98-run stand to bolster India, however, India were down to 182/6. A run-a-ball 45 from Hardik Pandya powered India to 249/9. Henry took five wickets for NZ. India, who went in with two seamers, sent back a tentative Rachin Ravindra early on. Hardik Pandya dismissed him. Meanwhile, Will Young was knocked over by Chakravarthy. Williamson and Daryl Mitchell took India toward 100, but Kuldeep Yadav removed the latter. Williamson, who continued to steer the Black Caps, fell to Axar Patel eventually. Chakravarthy made further inroads as NZ perished for 205. Iyer came in after dismissals of Rohit and Gill left India reeling at 22/2. With Kohli also departing, Iyer steadied the ship and found support from Axar. The duo successfully negotiated NZ's spinners in the middle overs. Iyer, who was later joined by KL Rahul, slammed a 79 off 98 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes). William ORourke dismissed him. Iyer once again showed why he fancies facing New Zealand in ODIs. He now has four half-centuries in addition to two tons. The middle-order batter 563 runs from nine ODIs at an incredible average of 70.37 against NZ. His ODI scores against this opposition read 103, 52, 62, 80, 49, 33, 105, and 79. Overall, Iyer has 22 half-centuries in ODI cricket. Henry gave NZ their first breakthrough in the form of Gill, who has been in sublime form. The Kiwi seamer sent back Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Pandya, and Mohammed Shami. He conceded 42 runs in eight overs. Henry became the third NZ bowler with a fifer in Champions Trophy history. He joined Jacob Oram (5/36 vs USA, 2004) and Shayne O'Connor (5/46 vs Pakistan, 2000). As per Cricbuzz, Henry has become the first player to take a five-wicket haul against India in Champions Trophy history. The previous-best bowling figures in this regard were 4/25 by Pakistan's Naved-ul-Hasan. Henry scripted history by going past the legendary Richard Hadlee in terms of ODI wickets. The latter took 158 wickets at 21.56 in his ODI career. Henry is now the eighth-highest wicket-taker for NZ in ODIs, with Daniel Vettori leading the column (297). Kohli was spellbound by a stunning catch from Phillips early in the match. The Indian batter played a fierce cut off Matt Henry's bowling. But it went straight into the hands of Phillips, who dived to his right. The replay showed that Phillips was airborne and took less than a second to grab the ball. Kohli was dismissed for 11(14). Earlier, Kohli became the seventh Indian with 300-plus appearances in ODI cricket. He joined Sachin Tendulkar (463), MS Dhoni (347), Rahul Dravid (340), Mohammad Azharuddin (334), Sourav Ganguly (308), and Yuvraj Singh (301) on this list. Rohit Sharma, India's incumbent ODI skipper, is just behind Kohli with 271 appearances in the format. Kohli is one of only three men with 14,000-plus runs in ODIs. India were down to 30/3 in 6.4 overs against NZ. As per ESPNcricinfo, this is the fastest any team has dismissed India's top-three batters in a men's ODI since the 2019 WC semi-final. This was also the second instance of these three players being dismissed in the first 10 overs. The only other such instance was against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in 2023. Despite chasing a modest 250, New Zealand lost Rachin Ravindra early on. Chakravarthy didn't let the Kiwis get away with a partnership thereafter, dismissing Will Young. While Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in during middle overs, Chakravarthy dismissed Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, and finally Matt Henry. Chakravarthy conceded 42 runs in 10 overs. Chakravarthy has become the third Indian to take a five-wicket haul in Champions Trophy history. He has joined Jadeja (5/36 vs West Indies, The Oval, 2013) and Mohammed Shami (5/53 vs Bangladesh, Dubai, 2025) on this list. Chakravarthy now also has the second-best figures on Champions Trophy debut, only behind Australia's Josh Hazlewood (6/52 vs New Zealand, Edgbaston, 2017). Chakravarthy recorded his maiden five-wicket haul in only his second ODI, the earliest by an Indian in their ODI career, as per Cricbuzz. Stuart Binny held the previous record for India. He registered 6/4 against Bangladesh in 2014, which was his third ODI. Williamson came in after Ravindra departed with 17 runs on the board. The former kept NZ alive by rotating the strike. He shared brief stands with Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, and Tom Latham. While others failed to deliver, Williamson completed his 47th half-century in ODIs. He conceded his wicket in a desparate attempt to up the run-rate. Williamson scored a 120-ball 81 (7 fours). Williamson now has the most fifty-plus scores for New Zealand against India in ODI cricket. According to ESPNcricinfo, he broke a tie with Ross Taylor, who retired with 11 such scores. Nathan Astle remains the only other New Zealand batter with 10 or more fifty-plus scores against India in the format. Williamson also has an ODI ton against India. As mentioned, India will take on Australia in the first semi-final in Dubai on February 4. India finished atop Group A after winning all three group-stage matches. New Zealand, the second-placed side from Group A, will face Group B toppers South Africa in the second semi-final. The match will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on March 5.