Indian cricket team made just one change to their playing XI for the Champions Trophy 2025 Group A match against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday. Fast bowler Harshit Rana was excluded from the playing XI while spinner Varun Chakravarthy replaced him. There were several reports that Mohammed Shami will be rested for the match but the team management decided to include him as the fast bowling option along with all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The team department remained the same as both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were included in the side. The winner of the match between India and New Zealand will top Group A with both sides already booking their spot in the semifinals. (India vs New Zealand LIVE Score)
Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The match 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 Chakravarthy 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.
India's Playing XI against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.
New Zealand: Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O'Rourke.
(With IANS inputs)