Chennai: Fireworks lit up the skies, joyous celebrations began and crackers were burst, as India erupts in joy after Rohit Sharma's invincibles annexed their seventh ICC World Cricket title defeating New Zealand by four wickets in a tense finish in the Champions Trophy summit clash at Dubai on a memorable Sunday night.
Fireworks lit up the night skies, people danced to beating of drums took selfies taking the celebrations to a new high.
After restricting the Kiwis to 251 for 7 in 50 overs, India, after surviving some tense moments despite a rollicking century partnership for the opening wicket, crossed the finishing line with six balls to spare and in the process losing six wickets finishing at 254 for six.
The moment, all rounder Ravindra Jadeja pulled pacer O'Rourke to the square leg fence, the entire country erupted in joy as India laid its hands on the third Champions Trophy and more importantly remained undefeated in the event, excelling both in chasing and in defending targets.
Visuals from across the country beamed in TV channels saw the cricket afficiandos breaking into wild celebrations savouring the win.
In Chennai, celebrations broke out at the Marina Beach and the Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar beach where thousands of cricket fans watched the final live through the giant screens installed by the Tamil Nadu government, on a memorable Sunday night.
Cricket fans across the State, celebrated the title victory by bursting crackers and distributing sweets.
At the host venue, where India played all their matches, the Dubai sky was lit up after claimed their third Champions Trophy title.
After Jadeja's pull settled the issue, Indian cricketers rushed out of the dug out as there were lots of smiles and handshakes in the middle.
Jadeja, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh broke into a Gangnam style dance, while Virat Kohli, who had a rare failure with the bat, and skipper Rohit Sharma, who once again came up with his dominant display and emerged as the top scores in the final, did the dandiya dance with the stumps.
Despite being drafted into the playing XI rather late, spinner Varun Chakravarthy remained a mystery to the opponent batters, performing a key in all the matches he played, too joined the revelry.
Varun has turned the narrative in India's favour right from the time he came into the team. Batting first the Kiwis got off to a rollicking start, before the Indian spinners applied the brakes and picked up wickets at regular intervals. However half centuries by Darry Mitchell and Michael Bracewell helped New Zealand reach the 250 mark.
The Indian chase too got off to a flier thanks largely to Rohit Sharma, who started with a bang with a second ball pulled six, put on 105-run stand for the opening wicket with Shubman Gill.
But New Zealand came back with two quick wickets in four balls when high flying Finn, known for his agility, pulled off a blinder at covers to dismiss Shubman Gill and offie Bracewll struck in his very first ball trapping Virat Kohli in front.
Rohit and Shreyas Iyer, who missed out a well deserved a half century by one run, tried to rotate the strike. With the spinners applying the brakes, the dot balls increased and boundaries were at a premium.
In a bid to break the shackles, Rohit stepped out to spinner Rachin Ravindra and was stumped, as India lost three wickets for 17 runs in 7.5 overs.
Shreyas Iyer and left handed Axar Patel, who played the all-rounder's role to perfection steadied the ship with a crucial 50-plus stand,before their exit raised the hopes of Kiwis. While Shreyas was held at short fine leg, Axar Patel wasted all his hard work and needlessly went for a big shot and holed out to the long off fence.
After Hardik Pandya's brief cameo, the composed and cool K L Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja took the Indian team past the finishing line, despite being pushed to the brink, triggering wild celebrations in the Indian camp and across the country.
