Ahead of the highly anticipated ICC Champions Trophy final in 2025 against New Zealand in Dubai, former Indian captain and ex-BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has expressed his confidence in the current team. Ganguly believes that if India performs to its potential in the final, they are highly likely to secure the championship title on Sunday. The final match is scheduled for March 9th at the Dubai International Stadium, pitting the unbeaten Indian team against a strong New Zealand side, who have demonstrated excellent form in both batting and bowling under the leadership of Mitchell Santner.
This upcoming clash is set to be a thrilling rematch of the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy final, which New Zealand won. Adding to the stakes, India will be looking to avenge their previous defeats to New Zealand in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final and the 2021 ICC World Test Championship final.
“My best wishes are with team India. They are a formidable team, and we are hopeful for a strong performance. If they play to their capabilities, victory will be theirs,” Ganguly stated in an interview with ANI.
In their previous encounter just last week, India defeated New Zealand by 44 runs. India scored 249 runs in their allotted 50 overs and then bowled out New Zealand for 205 in 46 overs. While spin bowling has been a key focus in the UAE conditions, it was New Zealand’s Matt Henry who shone with the ball in that match, taking 5 wickets for 42 runs in 8 overs. For India, Shreyas Iyer was the top scorer, with 79 runs off 98 balls.
Kane Williamson put up a strong fight for New Zealand with 81 runs off 120 balls, but lacked sufficient support from the rest of the batting lineup. Indian spinners collectively took nine wickets, with Varun Chakaravarthy, considered a ‘secret weapon’, leading the charge with 5 wickets for 42 runs – identical figures to Matt Henry. This was only the 33-year-old leg-spinner’s second One Day International.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh.
New Zealand Squad: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke, Daryl Mitchell, Nathan Smith, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy.
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