Senior India batter Virat Kohli sympathized with close friend Kane Williamson after New Zealand’s loss to India in the 2025 Champions Trophy final. Reflecting on past defeats to the Kiwis, he highlighted the mutual respect and strong bond they share.
India secured a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final, held in Dubai on March 9. After opting to bat first, New Zealand posted 251/7, which India successfully chased down in 49 overs, led by skipper Rohit Sharma’s crucial 76 off 83 balls.
Both Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson had underwhelming performances in the final but enjoyed strong campaigns, scoring 218 and 200 runs, respectively. Speaking to the host broadcaster after India’s triumph, Kohli acknowledged Williamson’s disappointment and shared his thoughts, as quoted by Cricbuzz:
“Sad to see a very good friend of mine (Kane Williamson) on the losing side, but I’ve been on the losing side a couple of times when he’s been on the winning side. So only love between us.”
Williamson led the New Zealand team to victory against India in the 2019 World Cup semifinal in Manchester and the 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton.
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Kohli commended the New Zealand team for consistently delivering outstanding performances despite having limited resources. Praising the Kiwis, he remarked:
“We’ve always been in awe of what they can do with the limited number of players they’ve had over the years and just maximize their talent to the absolute maximum…”
”They’ve been probably the most consistent team in the last few years in big tournaments. And the reason for that is their immense belief in their skills and the amount of talent they have. So yeah, huge shout out to them.”
“Our goal was to recover strongly after a challenging tour of Australia”- Virat Kohli
Kohli faced a challenging 2024, with only a few notable performances. India suffered a 4-1 defeat in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy but excelled against England in white-ball cricket. He highlighted the team’s resolve to recover after the disappointing Australia series.
“We wanted to bounce back after a tough Australia tour, wanted to win a big tournament and we ended up doing that. So, it’s an amazing feeling, lovely playing with a bunch of such amazing youngsters, so much talent in the change room and they’re taking Indian cricket forward in the right direction,” the 36-year-old said.
“These are the things after playing for so long, such a long career, you look forward to situations where you’re put under pressure and you walk in and you put your hand up… And if you see this tournament over the course of five matches, everyone has put their hand up somewhere or the other. And that’s why we ended up winning this tournament,” he added.
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