New Zealand have suffered a significant blow ahead of Sunday's Champions Trophy 2025 final against India.
New Zealand have sustained a big blow ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final against India, with pacer Matt Henry doubtful due to a shoulder injury. Henry had sustained the injury during the semi-final against South Africa, which the Kiwis won by 50 runs.
“Matt obviously landed on his shoulder and bit was pretty uncomfortable. I guess the positive thing from our perspective is he got back out there to bowl,” New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said during a press conference on Friday. India and New Zealand will face off in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday. Stead was still hopeful of having Henry for the final.
“We’re going to give him every chance to be playing in this match, so it’s still a little bit unknown at this stage. He’s obviously pretty sore just from landing on the point of his shoulder but yeah, hopefully he will be okay,” reckoned the 53-year-old.
Henry is currently the leading wicket-taker in the 2025 Champions Trophy with 10 scalps from four matches. He collected a five-wicket haul (5/42) when the Black Caps met India in the group stage match on March 2. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were among the 33-year-old’s victims in that game. New Zealand, however, lost that match by 44 runs as spinner Varun Chakravarthy (5/42) overshadowed Henry’s efforts to dismiss the Kiwis for 205.
New Zealand were looking to chase down a target of 250 after India had posted 249/9 on the back of Shreyas Iyer’s knock of 79. In the semi-final, Henry finished with figures of 2/43 from seven overs.
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New Zealand and India have faced off in a Champions Trophy final only once. That was in 2000, when the tournament was called the ICC KnockOut Cup. Chris Cairns scored an unbeaten century (102*) as the Kiwis defeated India by four wickets in Nairobi to clinch their maiden ICC title.
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