Follow UsThe final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is all set to be a mouth watering contest between the two best teams in the competition in India and New Zealand. Even though India beat the Kiwis last Sunday in the final group game right here in Dubai, history has shown us how the Kiwis come well prepared for the big occasion with plenty of homework, rectifying previous mistakes.
We look at why, despite the defeat in the group stages, New Zealand still are the best equipped team in the competition to topple India and lift the Champions Trophy title.
India's tendency of starting off with a bang in the powerplay (1-10) has given bittersweet results for the Men in Blue in this Champions Trophy. The ultra aggressive approach has given India a strong start but, simultaneously, it has resulted in Rohit Sharma throwing away his wicket in multiple instances. The Kiwi fast bowlers have been terrific with the new ball as they have hardly given opponents runs in the first 10 overs in this competition, maintaining a stellar economy of 4.3.
New Zealand have a history of putting team India in trouble early on as they have taken 3+ wickets in first 10 overs on four occasions against India since 2019. Two of those four instances were in ICC events, with the first being in the semi-final of ICC World Cup 2019 where Matt Henry and Trent Boult through India's top order.
The other instance was last Sunday in the final group game of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 where India lost three quick wickets of Rohit, Kohli and Gill, resulting in them struggling at 37/3 at the end of powerplay.
It is not just the Indian spinners who have been lethal. The Kiwi spinners, too, have been amongst the wickets in this tournament, taking 17 wickets, which is second most among all sides.
In the middle overs phase between overs 11-40, the spin attack consisting of skipper Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra have in fact been more impactful than Indian spinners, averaging 28.7. They have, by some distance, been the best spin-bowling unit in the middle overs in this Champions Trophy.
The Indian batters, too, have been vulnerable against spin throughout the tournament as they have failed to score at a decent rate against them, especially in the middle overs. India's run rate of 4.5 against spin in overs 11-40 is the second lowest amongst all teams in this CT.
India's major formula for success in this Champions Trophy has been their excellent use of spinners. The trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja troubled the opposition big time in the initial stages of the tournament, while the addition of Varun Chakaravarthy made matters worse for the opposition batters, with them getting bamboozled by his mystery. New Zealand were blown away by Chakaravarthy and the Indian spinners in the group stage clash, as they lost as many as nine wickets to the tweakers.
This mantra cannot be expected to work again against New Zealand, though, as their batters have proven to be the most adaptable. They have travelled across the four venues in this tournament and have shown their ability to read the conditions quickly and strategize game plans according to the same.
Barring the India match, the Kiwi batters have dominated the spinners in the tournament, smashing them to the cleaners by hitting the most boundaries (against spin) in this competition so far. They have the third best average against spin and have hit the most fours and joint most sixes in the tournament against the tweakers.
The batting of the Kiwis in the middle overs has been spectacular against spin. They have managed to score at a decent run rate of 5.1, managing both strike rotation and boundary hitting. This has resulted in them averaging 60.8, which is far better than any other team in this phase.
If the Kiwi batters can thus somehow see off the threat of Chakaravarthy with minimal damage, things could get really complicated for the Indian side. The team's head coach Gary Stead assured that, come the final, his batters will come up with much better plans for the mystery spinner. It'll indeed be fascinating to see this battle unfold once again.
The left-arm spin duo of Jadeja and Axar have had decent success against New Zealand in the past. In recent times, though, the Kiwi batters have been good against left-arm spinners and have managed to scored at a decent strike rate of 80-90.
Except Tom Latham who averages 21.7, the rest of the Kiwi batters have maintained a good average with Williamson topping the charts at 93. Phillips has averaged 88 while Mitchell and Young have averaged 50+ runs per dismissal against left-arm spin in the last two years. Thus, while Jadeja and Axar might keep the run rate in check to an extent, the wickets might not come that easily.