The ICC has been under scrutiny for the unfair scheduling in the Champions Trophy 2025.
The New Zealand head coach Gary Stead is the latest to criticise the scheduling in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025. Hours before India and New Zealand are set to collide in the final in Dubai, Stead has opened up on how the schedule has taken a toll on his players.
New Zealand are the only team in the competition to have played four games at four different venues. Their campaign kicked off at Karachi against Pakistan before they travelled to Rawalpindi to face Bangladesh. They then took a flight to Dubai to play India before going to Lahore for the semi-final against South Africa.
Traveling between the games has meant the Kiwis haven’t had much time to rest and recover.
“There is no doubt that coming here after Lahore – we had a full day of travel yesterday – takes it out of you a little bit,” Stead said.
India, on the other hand, are stationed in Dubai and have played all their games at a single venue. There has been a constant talk of India gaining a competitive advantage due to this. Several players and pundits have spoken up on this, including David Miller, Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, and Vivian Richards.
Speaking on this, Stead said these decisions are out of their hands and the team just has to get on with it.
“Yes, India have played their four matches here. We’re lucky enough to have had one here against them. It was a good match, without us quite putting our best foot forward as well,” he added.
ALSO READ:
The Black Caps played the semi-final at Lahore – the highest scoring venue in the competition. They will play the final in Dubai, which is the lowest scoring venue in the tournament. Adapting from Lahore to the other extreme will be quite a challenge for them.
Fortunately, they have played one group fixture here and will have some understanding of how the pitch behaves.
When these two rivals competed in the group stage, India posted 249 on the board and New Zealand ended up losing by 40 runs. Spinners hold the key here. The NZ captain Mitch Santner will be their biggest trump card in the final. He’s coming off a match-winning performance against the Proteas, breaking the game with 3 for 43 in his 10 overs.
