Champions Trophy: Chakaravarthy, Mitchell come in as NZ opt to bowl first against India
Dubai, March 2 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the final Group A match of 2025 Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
The match has also made Virat Kohli the 22nd player overall and the seventh Indian to play 300 men’s ODIs.
Both India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals, and Sunday’s game will decide who will face Group B table-toppers South Africa or second-placed Australia in the last four clash of the ongoing competition.
After winning the toss, Santner said Daryl Mitchell comes in for Devon Conway. “Looks like a good wicket. Want to put some pressure early and hopefully it skids on well later. We still want to win, we know we are going to be in Lahore later, but first task is to do a job here, and challenge ourselves in different conditions,” he said.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana has been rested, and wrist-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy comes into the playing eleven. It means India now have two attacking spinners in Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
“Was anyway looking to bat first, wanted to see what we could do upfront and then challenge our bowlers since we chased on both games. Approach will be very similar to the previous games, just trying to do the same things.
“It is all about bowling in partnerships; in both games we have combined to pick 19 wickets. Our spinners have restricted them well and then the seamers have got the wickets,” he said.
The game will be played on a black-soil pitch, with square boundaries at 63m and 71m respectively, while straight down the ground boundary stands at 76m.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakaravarthy
New Zealand: Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, and William O’Rourke
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