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New Zealand identify India's 'big threat in the game' ahead of Champions Trophy final: 'Putting our thinking caps...'
New Zealand have identified one player from the Indian camp for whom they need to be the most prepared heading into the Champions Trophy final.
India's strategy of going in with five spinners in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 paid off as Rohit Sharma and co. reached the final of the eight-team tournament and are now gearing up to square off against New Zealand in the summit clash. Ahead of the marquee encounter, BlackCaps coach Gary Stead confided that the side is preparing full tilt to get the better of mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy.
Varun has played two matches in the ongoing edition, taking seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul. The spinner's contribution was the deciding factor in India's victory over the Kiwis in the Group A encounter in Dubai.
The 33-year-old bamboozled the Kiwi batting lineup on March 2, helping India top the group. Varun also got the much-needed wicket of Travis Head in India's semi-final against Australia.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead has now identified Varun as a major threat, saying the side will put on their thinking caps to deal with him.
“We expect him to play after getting 5/42 against us in the last game. He’s a class bowler and showed his skills against us last time and he’s a big threat in the game,” Stead told reporters on Friday.
“So we’ll be putting our thinking caps on around how we nullify that and how we can still score runs against him,” he added.
'Schedule a bit hectic'
New Zealand coach also said that the schedule for his side has been hectic in the ongoing competition, but he is not looking to give any excuses.
After the game against India in Dubai, New Zealand travelled to Lahore to play the semi-final against South Africa, where they came out on top.
“There’s no doubt that coming here off playing Lahore and we had a full day of travel yesterday, then it just takes it out of you a little bit, but we’ve got a couple of days now of a little bit of recovery and planning and training towards the game,” he added.
Earlier, South Africa batter David Miller sparked debate after he revealed how his side had to travel to Dubai and then to Lahore for the semi-final. Ahead of India's match against New Zealand, both Australia and South Africa had flown to Dubai.
“It’s only an hour and 40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal,” Miller said.
“It’s early morning, it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm. And at 7:30 am, we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice,” he added.
