In the most awaited Champions Trophy 2025 final, the unbeaten team India will lock horns with mighty New Zealand on 9 March at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Since the start of the tournament, team India has played extraordinary cricket; whether it was batting, bowling, or fielding, the intent that has been shown by the team in the tournament is exceptional. As the ‘Men in Blue’ take on the Kiwis on Sunday, the nation will stick to the screens and pray for their team to lift the Champions Trophy cup after 12 years.
India’s Road to Final
Team India’s journey in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has been flawless as the team remains unbeaten in the league matches and semifinals. Starting their campaign against neighbors Bangladesh, the team India secured an easy win by 6 wickets while chasing a target of 229 runs.
Following that, Rohit Sharma’s side played their second match against arch rivals Pakistan, in which India’s star batter Virat Kohli made a comeback with a century against his all-time favourite opponents, and India won by a massive 6 wickets with 45 balls left. That’s how team India made it into the semi-finals.
The third league match of India against New Zealand was a match of bowlers because, having a great batting line-up including modern-day legend Kane Williamson and youngster Rachin Ravindra, the Indian bowling side managed to stop them at just 205 runs while chasing a total of 249 runs in 50 overs.
In the semi-finals against all-time ICC tournament rivals Australia, who have most recently defeated India in the ICC World Cup 2023 final at Ahmedabad. The Indian team came up with a straight vengeance mode and showed a very different intent in the game. Instead of playing defensive cricket in a knockout game, team India played with a fierce determination, which was shown by lower-middle order batters Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, who smashed big sixes during the run chase. And that’s how the ‘Men in Blue’ made it into the finals.
Is New Zealand a Threat?
As the formidable team India is all set to take on New Zealand, there still would be a second thought in the minds of cricket fans. New Zealand is the only team after Australia that has troubled India in ICC knockout games, whether it was the ICC World Cup 2019 semi-finals or the first edition of the World Test Championship 2021. Mitchell Santer’s side has played great cricket in the tournament, suffering just one defeat against Team India. The Kiwis made it into the finals after defeating South Africa in the semi-finals, in which Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra scored centuries. Following that, team India will look into the analytics and try to get on these two if they want a grip in the field.
India’s Preparedness
Considering New Zealand’s inform squad, team India will not think much as they have also played good cricket in the whole tournament, remaining unbeaten against every side. Apart from this, India’s batsmen including Shubhman Gill and Virat Kohli have scored tons of runs in the tournament, which shows that India’s batting is in good hands and they are going to play exceptional cricket in the finals. Along with this, India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy will also prepare to take on Kiwis because in the league match he literally demolished the Kiwis’ batting lineup and took a fifer. Apart from this, all-rounder Hardik Pandya is all set to hit ginormous sixes, as he has also shown a champion mindset in the tournament.
Pitch Report
The final will be played on the same pitch as the India vs. Pakistan match, which should work in the spinners’ favor. If the side sets a high score batting first, chasing could become difficult because there hasn’t been much dew in the evening.
As India and New Zealand are set to play the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 finals, every cricket fan is expecting a good game with their favourites to score runs and take wickets.
India Squad:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, and Washington Sundar.
New Zealand Squad:
Mitchell Santner (Captain), Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke, Jacob Duffy, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, and Nathan Smith
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