Rohit Sharma & Co wear favourites tag with pride as Mitchell Santner’s NZ dare to dream for today’s ICC Champions Trophy final glory in Dubai, where spin is set to play a significant role
Rohit Sharma and Mitchell Santner. Pics/Getty Images
India have never lost a One-Day International at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. New Zealand have never lost a final to India in ICC competitions. One of these will change on Sunday night when the teams face off to be crowned the next Champions Trophy winners.
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Nine wins in Dubai
India’s record at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS) is near-flawless; they have won nine ODIs and tied a tenth, against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in 2018. All nine victories have come under Rohit Sharma — five in the said Asia Cup, which then regular skipper Virat Kohli sat the tournament out – while Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood in for the stand-in captain against the Afghans.
India players during a practice session on the eve of the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai on Saturday. Pic/PTI
If that is music to the ears of millions of Indian fans, it comes with a rider. Both of New Zealand’s victories in ICC finals have come at the expense of India — at the ICC KnockOut Trophy (as the Champions Trophy was then known) in 2000 in Nairobi and the World Test Championship in Southampton in 2021. So, what are we looking at — repeat, or revenge?
India have been an unstoppable force since they began their campaign against Bangladesh, gathering momentum with each passing game. Their four wins have come with a measure of comfort, but they haven’t been a walk in the park. They have been forced to dig deep, to bat out of character, to adjust and adapt to the slower, less stroke-encouraging tracks. Without forsaking their mantra of positivity and intent, they have tailored their gameplans to the demands of the situation and eked out performances from almost every one of the 12 players they have used across four matches.
New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra (left) and skipper Mitchell Santner during a training session at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
India on top of their game
It has helped that they’ve played entirely in Dubai, the privilege of playing at one venue not accorded to any of the other seven who originally started this competition. This is not to suggest that that’s the sole reason for India’s place in the final; their cricket has been out of the top drawer, except for their catching. But the advantages of not having to pack their bags and travel hither and thither, like New Zealand have done thrice in the last 10 days, can’t be exaggerated.
New Zealand came into the tournament with the confidence of having won a tri-series in Pakistan last month and have played like a champion side except when they ran into a tartar in India in the group match between the teams here. They have gorged themselves on batter-friendly conditions in Pakistan where Rachin Ravindra has been unstoppable, but in Dubai, they were found out by India’s four-pronged spin attack helmed expertly by Varun Chakravarthy, the least experienced of the quartet. It’s how well their middle-order, under the stabilising hand of Kane Williamson, negotiates the spin threat that will determine how the final plays out.
A spin battle
The Kiwis themselves have four spinners with skipper Mitchell Santner as their most experienced and accomplished. They will have taken note of how the Indian batters went about their business last Sunday, when Rohit Sharma’s men came through by 44 runs. On the same track where India defeated Pakistan by six wickets two weeks back, they will try to use some of that knowledge to good effect, though in potentially their last ICC finals together, Rohit and the back-in-form Virat Kohli will entertain other ideas.
2000
New Zealand beat India in the ICC Knockout Trophy final in Nairobi, Kenya
2021
New Zealand beat India in the ICC World Test Championship final in Southampton, UK
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