CT 2025: India eye top spot in Group A as they face New Zealand in their last group match

DUBAI: India will lock horns with New Zealand in their last group stage match in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium as they eye the top spot in Group A. This will also help settle up the semifinal permutations.

The match acts as a perfect tune-up, heading into the tournament’s next stage. It’s the only two remaining teams to have won every match at the tournament doing battle and there’s plenty to play for.

Recent form:

New Zealand: Similar to India, New Zealand is one of the in-form ODI teams in world cricket. They’ve already played eight One Day Internationals this year and only lost one of them, which was a dead rubber against Sri Lanka in a 2-1 series win in January.

Leading into the tournament, the Black Caps won all three Tri-Nation matches against Pakistan and South Africa. They also easily won both of their group stage encounters.

India: After their strong victory over Pakistan in Dubai, India has nine wins from ten white ball encounters this calendar year.

While they can afford to drop this game, having already secured semi-finals qualification, knocking off a fellow tournament contender would have to feel good, as they move into the knockout stages.

Players in focus:

New Zealand: Michael Bracewell
Bracewell is unquestionably in focus after his return of 4/26 off 10 overs against Bangladesh last start. He complemented the Kiwis’ tall pace attack, taking advantage of Tigers batters targeting the slow bowling.

Bracewell only took the one wicket against Pakistan but only conceded 38 runs from his 10 overs in another economical display. The right-arm off-spinner’s role against this fierce Indian batting dugout will prove pivotal.

India: Mohammed Shami
India’s opening bowler made major inroads against Bangladesh, taking five scalps, before going wicketless against Pakistan.

It was the Indian spinners that did the damage against their subcontinent rivals, but if Shami can take care of New Zealand’s top order with an early breakthrough or two, the spin brigade will smell blood in the middle overs.

Squads:

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy. (ANI)