It has been three days since New Zealand arrived here, yet because of different tournament schedules they haven’t had the opportunity to bump into the Indian players. On Sunday, when they arrive at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for an afternoon clash of the Champions Trophy, the very sighting of New Zealand would definitely reopen some wounds in the Indian camp.
This might be an inconsequential game – with both teams confirmed of a semi-final spot and even the venue of it – but has the making of being the final before the actual final next weekend. So far in this tournament, it is India and New Zealand that have stood out not just in terms of results, but also the way they have gone about. Man for man, both teams are equally matched, impactful openers at the top, two solid No 3s, accumulators and enforcers in the middle-order, all-rounders to provide balance and firepower to finish innings off, spinners to choke opponents and seamers who just about hit the right length on these decks.
Having made short work of both their matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan, this does feel like the match that will truly reflect whether India are in with a chance of going the distance. For a side that looked listless with their on-field strategy when New Zealand went about handing shockwaves after shockwaves during the whitewash in Tests at home, they have looked a different outfit here. From pre-game preparations to enforcing the same in the middle, they have seldom faltered in terms of execution.
India’s Ravindra Jadeja during a training session ahead of a One Day International (ODI) cricket match of the ICC Champions Trophy between India and New Zealand, at ICC Academy Ground No 2 , in Dubai, UAE, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)
New Zealand, though, will be nothing like any other team they have faced here. While there has been plenty of focus with regards to how India’s middle-order would confront the New Zealand spinners, the same can be said about how Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav would come up against a batting line up that includes Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips. As they showed in the Test series win over India, they are a batting outfit that doesn’t just go with a one-dimensional approach to attack the spinners. On similar slow conditions, the Kiwi batsmen had after all out batted Indians.
And they have the same personnel with them here as well. In Young, Conway, Williamson and Latham, they have batsmen to bring controlled aggression. If they are intent on taking the spinners down, in Rachin, Mitchell and Phillips have batsmen who have the firepower to clear the big boundaries with ease.
“With the quality of the Indian spinners it is about how we can rotate strike, how can we take the game deep and be able to give ourselves a chance to launch an attack at the death. And if we do that, first put a competitive score on the board. And obviously, if we’re chasing, that becomes really crucial to limit those dot balls in the middle overs with how good their spinners are,” Phillips said of their plan as a batting group which mirrored that of India’s.
Even on the bowling front, a reason why India have every reason to be wary of New Zealand is they have their bases covered. Armed with four spin-bowling options to go with seamers who are good with bowling cutters as well, they have a rounded-attack to keep India’s batsmen in check.
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“It’s playing a little bit slow and there’s obviously a good deal of turns. I think it’s going to be an interesting match-up. They’ve got three quality spinners and I guess for us we obviously have a lot of all-rounders as well as our top bowling line-ups. We do have a lot of bases covered regardless of the situation that we’re going to be facing,” Phillips added.
Bizarre schedule
So on Sunday, India are in many ways up against multiple challenges – to keep the winning momentum going and to ensure they remain fresh for the semifinal, which is bizarrely scheduled for Tuesday with just one rest day in between. It is making India tread cautiously. In both the matches, they have batted second, so ideally before getting to play the semifinals, they would prefer to test how their batsmen go about in terms of setting up a target. If that is their intention on Sunday, then it will also come at the risk of them bowling second, which would give their bowlers not enough time to manage their load ahead of Tuesday’s fixture. If New Zealand win the toss, then the call would be beyond their reach.
India’s Mohammed Shami during a training session ahead of a One Day International (ODI) cricket match of the ICC Champions Trophy between India and New Zealand, at ICC Academy Ground No 2 , in Dubai, UAE, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)(
In terms of personnel as well, India are caught in a bit of muddle. Their premier pacer Mohammed Shami showed signs of struggles during their match against Pakistan, but with a week’s rest is good to play on Sunday. Given his recent fitness issues, how well they manage his load for two matches in three days is a burning question that is confronting the team management, which is also aware that unless he gets enough game time in the middle, his rhythm will not improve.
The story is the same with Kuldeep Yadav as well. With New Zealand having a good mix of left-handers and right-handers in their top seven and the three spinners India have used in two matches here being all left-armers, there are temptations to include Washington Sundar or Varun Chakaravarthy. But Kuldeep, like Shami, coming from an injury lay-off against Pakistan seemed to get his old mojo back. As Kuldeep mentioned afterwards his accuracy will only improve when he plays more games, so benching him for Sunday in favour of matchups could prove more detrimental. Interesting tussle on and off the field, awaits India.
