Watch: Kane Williamson pulls off a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Axar Patel in IND vs NZ match
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New Zealand's Kane Williamson took a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss India's allrounder Axar Patel during the final league match of Champions Trophy 2025 between both the teams.
It wasn't an easy catch but Kane Williamson held on to it beautifully in the end. Left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra bowled a short of a length delivery into middle and leg which Axar looked to tap over the short fine leg fielder.
However, Axar got a top edge because of the extra bounce. Earlier, it seemed like the ball would evade Williamson but the veteran kept his eyes on the ball, went back from short fine leg position and finally stuck his right hand above his shoulder to hold on to a stunning catch.
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Watch: Kane Williamson pulls off a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Axar Patel
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Axar Patel couldn't believe his luck as it wasn't the ball that intended to take his wicket. He could have worked the ball through the leg side but the extra bounce resulted in the wicket.
Kane Williamson in CT 2025
Kane Williamson has got a good pair of hands and he once again showed why he is still regarded as the best. It was his first catch of the match and an important one in the context of the match.
Rachin Ravindra was successful in breaking a strong partnership which was starting to look threatening. Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel collected 98 runs for the fourth wicket and helped in bailing India out of early trouble.
On the batting front, Kane Williamson is not having a great time in this tournament as he has scored just 6 runs in two matches so far. The right-hander has had two low scores in the tournament and will be looking to get amongst the runs soon.
India lose three early wickets
India were earlier reduced to 30-3 as they had lost all of their top three batters cheaply. Matt Henry provided the first breakthrough with the wicket of in-form batter Shubman Gill.
Rohit Sharma tried to take on Kyle Jamieson but perished for another low score. Virat Kohli looked good initially but was unable to repeat his heroics against Pakistan. Glenn Phillips took a stunning catch at point to dismiss Kohli.
India needed a steady partnership which was provided by Iyer and Axar as they showed tremendous patience and resilience. Both of them took their time to build on the partnership but started playing their shots once they got their eyes in.
As it seemed like both of them will go into the next gear, Williamson played a key role in breaking the partnership. Axar was dismissed for a well-made 42 off 61 balls which included 3 fours and 1 six.
After a brief partnership between KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, India lost the latter as well. Iyer scored a handy 79 off 98 balls on a wicket that wasn't easy to bat on.
