India will take on New Zealand in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on Sunday.
The pitch for Sunday’s Champions Trophy 2025 final between India and New Zealand in Dubai will reportedly be the same pitch that was used for the India vs Pakistan group stage game on February 23. According to a report in Cricbuzz, the pitch is expected to be slow and sluggish in nature, which means it will assist the spinners.
Indian spinners have dominated the proceedings in Dubai. Varun Chakravarthy (Seven wickets) is India’s top wicket-taker among spinners. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have taken five wickets each whereas Ravindra Jadeja has taken three wickets. Washington Sundar is yet to play a game in this tournament.
In the marquee India vs Pakistan match in February, Pakistan had won the toss and opted to bat. However, they found it difficult to deal with the Indian spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, who took a combined tally of five wickets. Pakistan were all out for 241 in 49.4 overs. India chased the total down with six wickets and 7.3 overs to spare, with Virat Kohli scoring an unbeaten century.
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Australia’s total of 264 in the semi-final against India is the highest score in Dubai in this edition of the Champions Trophy. Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel shared five wickets between them against the Aussies. India lost six wickets in their run chase, with spinners Adam Zampa and Cooper Connolly sharing three wickets.
The Men in Blue chased down the total with four wickets and 11 balls to spare. The Dubai International Cricket Stadium as 10 pitches in total and four of them have been used in the tournament thus far. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has maintained the policy of “resting” each pitch for two weeks.
Team India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke on the nature of the pitch ahead of the final. “In every match, the wicket changes slightly. As a batting coach, how do you assess our batsmen’s ability to adapt? While the wicket does change a bit, its overall nature hasn’t shifted much. However, the batting has been excellent. And secondly, we’ve been fortunate to get solid starts, and on occasions when those starts were lacking, the middle order stepped up,” he said during a press conference on Friday.
India had beaten New Zealand by 44 runs when the two teams faced off in the group stage on March 2.
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