India will take on New Zealand in their final league game of the Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. The high-voltage clash will be played on March 2 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Rohit Sharma-led side defeated Bangladesh and Pakistan in back-to-back games and a win over New Zealand will help them finish as the league leaders.
Meanwhile, India are set to play their semi-final match on March 4. Since there will only be a one day gap between these two matches, there’s a possibility that some of the players are rested against New Zealand. Several media reports claimed that captain Rohit might take a break to make room for Rishabh Pant, while Arshdeep Singh can replace Mohammed Shami.
Senior cricketer KL Rahul and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate also indicated that there might be some changes to the playing XI but the team doesn’t want to lose the match as the momentum will be lost. The Mitchell Santner-led side, on the other hand, has a fantastic record against India in ICC tournaments and will also be gunning to finish as the league leaders. Several of their players are in good form as Michael Bracewell picked up a four-wicket haul and Rachin Ravindra scored a century against Bangladesh in their last match.
Dubai International Cricket Stadium Pitch Report:
The surface at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium is expected to favour the spinners. It can be a low-scoring encounter and the batters will have to pace their innings well to post a defendable score on the board. Bowling first however will be the right thing to do.
Dubai International Cricket Stadium - The ODI Numbers Game
Total matches: 60
Matches won batting first: 22
Matches won bowling first: 36
Highest Total - 355/5 (England)
Lowest Total: 91 (Namibia)
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke, Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy
