Dubai, Mar 7: Successful in keeping opponents and vitriol at bay so far, India will have to rise above traditional bugbear New Zealand and a rigmarole of emotions surrounding stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to reclaim the Champions Trophy after 12 years here on Sunday.
India have always found the resilient Kiwis a tall mountain to surmount, as the latter hold a 10-6 lead over their Asian rivals across all the ICC tournaments.
If curated further, New Zealand have a 3-1 edge over India in the ICC knockout matches. It’s a disturbing loop for them.
A section of the cricketing world has been vilifying them for the whole of last fortnight for having an unfair advantage because of their extended stay in Dubai.
Now, this argument will not have much merit to it because the Kiwis have already tasted the conditions here. India might still entertain a greater sense of comfort going into the title match, courtesy a spin quartet that showed enough nous to exploit a sluggish DICS deck.
In all probability, India will retain the four spinners and two pacers combination for the championship match.
Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, the right-hand and left-hand wrist-spinners, have bamboozled the opponents like illusionists.
But Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have been the metronomes in this Indian bowling unit, tying down the batters in a matrix of accuracy and boredom while leading them to self-destruction.
If the final is indeed going to be played on the surface that is used for the game between India and Pakistan, then those four bowlers can put New Zealand in a spin, literally.
Their biggest hopes of countering these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra, the most competent batters against slow bowlers in their line-up.
However, Kiwis will also be quietly confident that their own set of spinners — skipper Mitchel Santner, Michael Bracewell, Ravindra and Glenn Phillips — can do a similar job here.
The Kiwi spinners had performed the act of destruction against India last year, albeit in a Test series and an encore will be welcomed as they are in search of their first ICC ODI title since 2000.
Incidentally, they had beaten India in the final of the Knockouts tournament in Kenya by four wickets 25 years ago.
But India will not want that to happen at their expense, and would like to add another ICC trophy to their cabinet after winning the last year’s T20 World Cup.
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had a massive role to play in that run, culminating in a glorious Barbados night.
Now, the distance to the final stop for them is getting shorter by the day.
Still, we don’t know for sure whether this is the last act of Kohli and Rohit after serving Indian cricket for over a decade and half with distinction.
If it is indeed so, then they will be eager to go out in a blaze of glory.
Rohit seems to be content with making those cute little 20s and 30s for some time now, and he will have to do an immediate course correction and look to stay longer at the crease.
It will reduce the burden on the middle-order batters, who have been doing the heavy lifting thus far.
The concern surrounding injured Matt Henry might also offer him some relief as the New Zealand pacer has troubled him a lot in the past with his ability to find movement and bounce even on the most docile tracks.
But that fortuitous occurrence apart, Rohit will have to find a way to make a meatier contribution.
Kohli has been doing that. His last five innings have produced a hundred and two fifties, reminiscent of a past when he lorded over opponents nonchalantly.
While knocks of substance from Kohli and Rohit will add gravitas to the occasion, India would not want to leave it to the veterans alone.
They will eye a fine effort from vice-captain Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.
Gill and Shreyas had their moments, while Rahul and Pandya joined them with backend cameos against Australia in the semifinals.
Now, it’s time for India to gather all these elements together once more to crown an emphatic campaign.
After all, fairytales are an intrinsic part of the Arabian lands.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy.
Match starts at 2.30 pm IST. (PTI)
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