Matt Henry Looked Pretty Distraught After Missing CT Final: Santner

Unfortunately for New Zealand, they missed their biggest bowling weapon - Matt Henry - for the big final against India on March 9 (Sunday). Not only did Henry have a great head-to-head record against the Indian batters, but was also the in-form bowler in the Champions Trophy 2025, with 10 wickets. 

It was a setback for the Black Caps' hopes of lifting their third ICC title against India. And it did show in the final, where they struggled to make inroads early on in the game, allowing the Indian openers to get themselves off to a great start. New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner rued the absence of Henry, and stated that the pacer looked pretty ‘distraught’ to miss the important clash. 

"Henry seems to be able to nip it on wickets that don't look like they should nip, so I guess we missed that today. I feel for Matty. He's a massive team man, and he looked pretty distraught,” Santner revealed in the post-match press conference. 

"He was the leading wicket-taker going into this game, and he's an outstanding bowler, as we've seen. We just kind of said, like, let's do it for him.”

“To come this far and then be injured for the main event was pretty tough for him and, I guess, for us. He tried everything he could to be ready for this game, and unfortunately for us, he wasn't quite there,” Santner said. 

But despite his absence, New Zealand did spring up a mini-comeback in the middle overs, chipping away at wickets and putting India under pressure. Santner lauded the efforts of the other guys in the group. 

"It's never going to go perfectly in these tournaments, I guess, with the quick turnaround of games like we had," Santner said. "But I think what's most pleasing is different guys got opportunities and stepped up as. I couldn't be prouder of the group.

Rachin Ravindra, who was also the Player of the Tournament, put on a show against the top sides, scoring 263 runs at a strike rate of 106.47 while averaging 65.75. Not just that, the Black Caps, who were struck by injuries, also had to rope in Kyle Jamieson, who bowled with great rhythm. 

"There were guys coming in and out due to injury. And then the way Rachin came back straight away after his head knock and hit the ground running was great. And Kyle Jamieson flying over and coming straight into the team - I thought he bowled extremely well in the games he played."

On the night, however, the Indian spinners made a visible difference, with Kuldeep Yadav picking up two crucial wickets in his first spell, restricting the New Zealand's firepower. 

"I think the way we went about it for the first eight overs or so was outstanding. And then it took some brilliance from the spinners to really peg us back and make it challenging through that middle phase. After the start, we were probably thinking of a score around 275 or 280.

"Credit has to go to Kuldeep for the way he bowled straight after the powerplay, and Varun inside the powerplay."