New Zealand opt to bat against India in Champions Trophy finals

Matt Henry is the leading wicket-taker of the ongoing tournament with 10 scalps, including taking 5-42 against India in the Group A game in Dubai

Dubai: New Zealand will play the 2025 Champions Trophy final without their pace bowling spearhead Matt Henry as they won the toss and elected to bat first against India at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

The all-important title clash will be played on the pitch used for the India-Pakistan clash on February 23. Henry is the leading wicket-taker of the ongoing tournament with 10 scalps, including taking 5-42 against India in the Group A game in Dubai. But he injured his right shoulder while taking Heinrich Klaasen’s catch in New Zealand’s 50-run semi-final win over South Africa in Lahore. Henry subsequently failed a fitness test in the run-up to the title clash, which has now prompted New Zealand to bring in right-arm pacer Nathan Smith.

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“We will try and put some runs on the board. A few blue shirts out there. A great occasion and a great stadium. It is going to be a good final. Slightly different to what we had in Pakistan. We saw India play very well and we will try and get some runs on the board and see how it goes. Different guys have stepped up at different times. It is going to be a good game,” said New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner.

India is chasing its third Champions Trophy title, while New Zealand are looking for their second silverware after last winning it in 2000. So far, India have been unbeaten in the ongoing competition, while New Zealand’s only loss in the tournament came to India in Dubai on March 2.

India skipper Rohit Sharma, who lost the toss for the fifth straight time in the tournament and overall 15th consecutive time in ODI cricket, said his playing eleven is unchanged from their semi-final win over Australia and that he didn’t mind batting second in the title clash.

It is a good pitch, hasn’t change a lot. We have to bowl first and we just need to focus how to restrict them. At the end of the day, what matters is how well you want to play. We don’t want to worry about the toss. We have played good cricket. Another important game. We will see what needs to be done. NZ have been a great team. Another challenge, how well we can play,” he said.

Playing XIs India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, and Varun Chakaravarthy

New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Kyle Jamieson, Nathan Smith, and William O’Rourke.