If there’s any team that always punches above their weight in ICC events, they are New Zealand.
New Zealand – Team Profile for Champions Trophy 2025
Tournament: Champions Trophy 2025
Captain: Mitchell Santner
Coach: Gary Stead
Previous edition: League Stage
If there’s any team that always punches above their weight in ICC events, they are New Zealand. They have been a consistent performer across different tournaments in the last few years, even though they haven’t won a major title yet, barring the World Test Championship 2021.
However, things have changed drastically for them. They have a new captain who will lead the Kiwis for the first time in an ICC tournament, and their quality isn’t the same anymore.
A few injury concerns have been a roadblock for the Kiwis, who are already enduring a transition. Still, they have a few quality players and won’t be pushovers.
Complete New Zealand Squad for Champions Trophy 2025
Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy
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New Zealand Schedule for Champions Trophy 2025
- Pakistan vs New Zealand in Karachi, February 19
- Bangladesh vs New Zealand in Rawalpindi, February 24
- New Zealand vs India in Dubai, March 2
Strongest New Zealand Playing XI for Champions Trophy 2025
- Devon Conway
- Rachin Ravindra
- Kane Williamson
- Daryl Mitchell
- Tom Latham (wk)
- Glenn Phillips
- Michael Bracewell
- Mitchell Santner (c)
- Matt Henry
- Lockie Ferguson
- William O’Rourke
Strengths
- New Zealand have one of the most skilful batting lineups in the competition. All batters bring quality and enough experience.
- They have a nice blend of LHB-RHB in the batting unit.
- They have some of the finest spin players throughout the batting unit.
- New Zealand have depth in their batting unit, with Mitchell Santner at No.8.
- Mitchell Santner is one of the best defensive spinners in white-ball cricket who provides control in the middle overs.
- Matt Henry’s resurgence in ODIs boosts the powerplay bowling, while Lockie Ferguson and William O’Rourke can be mighty effective on Pakistani decks since they can extract extra pace and bounce.
- New Zealand have plenty of bowling options in their strongest XI.
Weaknesses
- Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, and Matt Henry have been injury-prone, while Lockie Ferguson’s availability from the first game remains unconfirmed. If any of these get injured, New Zealand will find it arduous to find alternatives that obviously don’t provide the same skillsets.
- A last-minute injury to Ben Sears has depleted the bowling attack. While Jacob Duffy has done well in limited chances, Sears could be more effective on Pakistani decks due to his pace.
- While William O’Rourke brings that extra bounce factor, he can be wayward sometimes. He is still working on consistently landing the balls in the right areas.
- New Zealand don’t have a genuine wrist-spinner who can bring regular wickets in the middle overs.
Champions Trophy 2025 Season Verdict for New Zealand
The best thing in New Zealand’s favour is that they have more experience than any other visiting team playing in Pakistan. Even before the tournament, they have played a tri-series to fine-tune their preparations.
They are going to the tournament with one of the strongest sides. Despite a few glaring weaknesses, the Blackcaps possess quality in their squad.
New Zealand should qualify for the semifinal at least, piping Pakistan and Bangladesh from their group. However, they might not go beyond the semifinal.
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