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22-03-2025 Vol 19

ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Final: India has ‘no advantage’ compared to New Zealand | Cricket News

India’s batting trainer Sitanshu Kotak is blasting back by claiming that India’s Champions Trophy heaping is increased by the Dubai meeting.

Follow Al Jazeera’s live coverage of the final.

India, who played all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai, was a decision on before tournament, and talk about what gives India an unreasonable advantage is baseless, says the team’s batting trainer when he blasts back against criticism.

Rohit Sharma’s India faces New Zealand in the title clash on Sunday at Dubai International Stadium, where the tournament favorites have been undefeated in their four matches.

India refused to tour on the hosts Pakistan In the eight-nation tournament due to political tensions and got Dubai as their venue in the United Arab Emirates.

“The untrotection that happened it happened before,” Batting trainer Sitanshu Kotak told journalists before the final. “After India has won four matches, if people feel there is an advantage, I don’t know what to say about it.”

The tournament’s tangled schedule with teams flying in and out of UAE from Pakistan, while India has been set, has been controversial.

South Africa -Batsman David Miller said “It was not an ideal situation” for his team to fly to Dubai to wait for India’s semi -final opponent and then fly back to Lahore in less than 24 hours.

Even nominal hosts Pakistan had to jump on a jet and fly to Dubai to play India instead of meeting them at home.

India's Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring fifty races under the ICC Champions Trophy Semifinal Cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Christopher Pike)
India’s Virat Kohli greets the crowd in Dubai after achieving half a century against Australia in the semi -finals (Christopher Pike/AP)

The splades have been very different in the two countries. Pakistan traces produced large totals as opposed to the slow and rotating tires at Dubai Stadium.

“End of the day, I think in a game that you have to play good cricket every day when you show up,” Kotak said. “So the only thing they (critics) can say is that we play here. But such is the draw. “

“So nothing else can happen in it. It’s not that after coming to hit, they changed something and we got an advantage, ”he added.

India has been the team to beat after they topped Group A, where they faced New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They then beat Australia in the first semi -final.

New Zealand, led by Mitchell Santner, lost the last group game to India with 44 races before beating South Africa in the second semi -final in Lahore.

India's Varun Chakravarthy, Center, Celebrates Wicket in New Zealand's Glenn Phillips, on the right, under the ICC Champions Trophy Cricket match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Sunday March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/All of Qadri)
India’s Varun Chakravarthy, Center, Celebrates Wicket in New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips, on the right, in Dubai during the final Champions Trophy Group phase match (Altaf Qadri/AP)

Kotak said that the previous result between the two teams has no bearing on their thinking that enters the final.

“It depends on how the New Zealand team thinks, but I think we shouldn’t believe it,” Kotak said.

“We just had to try to show up and play a good cricket game because there is no need to think about the last match.”

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said they are not too concerned about the advantage of India.

“I mean, see, the decision around it’s out of our hands,” Stead said.

“So it’s not something we worry too much. India has to play all their games here in Dubai. But as you said we have had a game here and we learn very quickly from the experience there too. “

“And if we’re good enough to beat India on Sunday, I’m sure we’ll be very, very happy,” he added.

Littum