CT 2025 Final: Huge challenge for India batting second

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March 09, 2025 15:13 IST

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New Zealand captain and Indian captain Rohit Sharma at the toss

IMAGE: New Zealand captain and Indian captain Rohit Sharma at the toss ahead of the Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday. Photograph: Satish Kumar/Reuters

The coin toss once again didn't go India's way as Rohit Sharma lost the toss ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand on Sunday. 

New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and opted to bat.

This was the 12th toss in a row that Rohit has lost -- 15th across formats.  

But Indian fans would know it's a good toss to lose, given India enjoy chasing. 

Chase master Virat Kohli showed signs of good form (84 off 98 balls), having steered India close to victory in the semi-final chasing 265, before KL Rahul (42 not out off 34) and Hardik Pandya (28 off 24) put the final touches and put the team into the final.

 

That said the pitch is going to get challenging for the batters as the game wears on. Spinners are going to come into play with the pitch set to offer some turn and the slower balls will pay dividends later in the match.

'We've been here enough, batted first and bowled first, don't really mind batting second. It hasn't changed much, we've chased and won as well. It does give you a lot of confidence, takes the toss away from the game. At the end of the day, what matters is how well you want to play,' Rohit said at the toss.

'That's what we've spoken about in the dressing room, not to worry about the toss and to just play well, that's what we've done and we have to do today as well. New Zealand have been a very good team over the past so many years, they tend to play good cricket in ICC tournaments. The challenge for us is to play well against them now,' he added.

New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner said: 'We're going to have a bat first. Looks like a pretty good wicket, similar to the one we played India here a week ago. Want to get runs on the board and see what happens. Obviously expected a few blue shirts, great atmosphere, great ground. Going to be slightly different from what we got in Pakistan.

'We saw how India played and what they got out of it. Hope it slows down a bit later. Different guys have stepped up at different times. You want guys firing from the start and we have done that, as have India.

The Kiwis have one forced change with pacer Matt Henry has been ruled out, Nathan Smith comes in for him, while India play unchanged.

 

 

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