India erupted in joy as Rohit Sharma and his boys lifted the Champions Trophy after beating New Zealand in Dubai to win their first 50-over ICC title in 12 years. The March 9 final game also set a new record on streaming platform JioHotstar, shattering global records with over 6.1 crore concurrent viewers, according to their LinkedIn post.
This marks the highest number of people watching a live event simultaneously, the platform added.
The ICC Champions Trophy final match has broken the previous record held by ICC World Cup 2023 which recorded 5.9 crore concurrent viewers.
The Champions Trophy finale’s over 90 crore views on the streaming platform, is way higher than the 60 crore for the India-Pakistan game earlier in the tournament.
And Yes the trophy comes to India! @TheRealPCB Did you get anything beyond the place on logo of #CTFinal2025 what a game! Congratulations to the #MenInBlue @imjadeja love your simplicity man! #ChampionsTrophyFinal #INDvsNZ @JioHotstar 86cr viewership 🔥 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WeNTrwU4Ch
— Indian Babua✳️ (@viplavankur) March 9, 2025
The epic game:
While the views began to rise dramatically as India started the 252-run chase with a bang, New Zealand’s inning, too, had the viewers hooked. New Zealand had won the toss and chosen to bat.
Views on the over-the-top (OTT) platform are not unique and include multiple views by the same person.
Towards the end of New Zealand’s innings, the views touched 39.7 crore. Indian bowlers restricted the Kiwis who patiently built their innings to put up 251 on the board. Kuldeep Yadav bowled a sensational spell to dismiss Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra. Varun Chakaravarthy continued his impressive form, playing a crucial role in India’s disciplined bowling effort.
Match breaks world record:
Skipper Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shubman Gill made a strong start to the chase. “Hitman” Sharma took the attack to the Kiwi bowlers but Gill’s dismissal closely followed by that of Virat Kohli kept viewers on the edge.
After a slight wobble, India kept the momentum going. The views touched 78 crore when India needed 40 runs from 36 balls in the 44th over. As KL Rahul hit a much needed six, the views shot up to 78.5 crore.
The next six, from Hardik Panday, brought India closer to the trophy and lifted views to 79.6 crore. Soon after, Panday was caught and bowled by the tall Kyle Jamieson. India still needed 11 runs from 15 balls and as tension mounted, so did the views — to 82.2 crore.
Views surged to 83.2 crore when India needed five runs from 11 balls and climbed to 83.8 crore when Ravindra Jadeja hit the winning boundary. India’s victory took the viewership numbers to 84.5 crore.
The Men in Blue who didn’t lose a single game kept the audience hooked, with views seeing a spike in key matches.
While the India-Pakistan match, the biggest cricket rivalry, on February 23 recorded 60.2 crore views, India’s semi-final against Australia got 66.9 crore views.
