3 Reasons Why NZ Can Beat India In CT 2025 Final: The final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set, and it’s India vs New Zealand. The two teams will take on each other in the ultimate match of this tournament for the ultimate glory in a tournament that was taken out of the calendar a few years ago.
Despite it being the least important of the major ICC competitions, the Champions Trophy has a long and storied history, and winning it will mark the winner as the best ODI team in the world till the next ODI World Cup.
India are the clear favourites to win this match for a number of reasons. First, these two teams already went up against one another earlier in this competition on the same ground, the Dubai International Stadium, with the Men in Blue coming out on top fairly comfortably.
India has also been playing all of their matches at the same stadium and on similar pitches. Rather than playing on the batting-friendly pitches of Pakistan, where all other teams have played their matches, Rohit Sharma’s men have played all their games in Dubai, where the ball supports spin bowling. Seeing that, the team has also filled their side with spinners, playing four of them in recent matches.
And finally, India is the best all-format team in the world. Despite losing a few big series in recent times, no other national team in the world has such a star-studded side, filled with veterans and youngsters alike.
However, this being an ICC knockout match, anything can happen. And unlike what many believe, the Kiwis are not going into this match as complete underdogs. Today, we will look at three reasons why New Zealand can beat India in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. 3 reasons why NZ can beat India in the CT 2025 Final.
A big part of India’s unbeaten run in CT 2025 so far is the team playing all their matches at the same venue. Not only does that give the Men in Blue a big advantage in a match-up, but it also hurts the chances of their opposition, seeing how they play all their other games in Lahore and Karachi, where the pitches are much more batter-friendly. In their semifinal, New Zealand scored 362 runs against South Africa. Whereas in Dubai, where India has played all their matches, a total of 260 is proving to be match-winning.
However, unlike all other teams in the tournament, New Zealand has already played a game in Dubai. Their last group stage game against India saw them restrict the Asian side to 249. However, they themselves were stopped at 205 runs.
Now, with the experience of playing on a spin-friendly Dubai pitch, the Kiwis can approach their batting better. And if they can restrict India to an under-par score once again, they might be within a shot of winning the final and the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand has brought some quality, albeit part-time, spin into this tournament. Captain Mitchell Santner is one of the best white-ball spinners in the world. He will be surrounded by an all-rounder spin trio of Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, and Michael Bracewell. While Ravindra and Bracewell did not impress with their bowling in the previous game against India, it was their first match of the tournament on such a track.
While the pitches in Dubai are supporting spin bowling a bit more, it was New Zealand’s pacers that did well in their previous game against India, making the entire Kiwi bowling lineup a threat.
Finally, New Zealand has been the best fielding side in this competition. While Glenn Phillips has made headlines and taken the credit with his superhuman efforts in the field, the BlackCaps are, on the whole, might be the best fielding side in world cricket, with no apparent weak links.
Check Out: 3 Reasons Why NZ Can Beat India In CT 2025 Final
Let’s face it: India does not have the best record against New Zealand in ICC tournaments. Such records are understandable when they are against the likes of Australia, a team in the habit of winning trophies. But the Indian Cricket Team’s poor ICC record against New Zealand, a team that almost feels averse to winning ICC trophies, is peculiar, to say the least.
In the ODI World Cup, their record is 5-5 in 11 matches, that is, after India’s two wins over the Black Caps in the 2023 World Cup at home. Then, there is the T20 World Cup, where New Zealand has come out on top in all three of their meetings against India. Finally, in the Champions Trophy, they have a 1-1 record after two meetings, with India’s first win against this opposition in CT coming in the 2025 edition. The Kiwis also won their one and only appearance in the World Test Championship final against India in 2021.
While India is by far the better team, especially on the surface of the final, the India vs New Zealand ICC tournament record is like a monkey on the back of the Men in Blue, which will only come off when the Indian Cricket Team defeats New Zealand regularly in the coming ICC competitions, including the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Check Out: 3 Reasons Why NZ Can Beat India In CT 2025 Final
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