India are set to take on New Zealand in the final of Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The Rohit Sharma-led side will aim to clinch its second ICC title in less than a year. In June 2024, India won the T20 World Cup trophy. Talking about the ongoing tournament, Rohit and co. have looked in great touch. They won all their three group stage matches, playing against Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand, before defeating Australia in the semi-final.
India have got a big injury scare ahead of the summit clash as star batter Virat Kohli reportedly got hit on his knee during a practice session. Sharing the report, Geo TV explained that Kohli copped the blow after getting hit by a fast bowler's delivery. He quickly stopped the training and was attended by the physio, who applied a spray and wrapped the injured area with a bandage, it said. While Kohli didn't bat after that, the report added that the Indian coaching staff clarified that the injury is not serious and Kohli will play the final.
Seldom does a Kohli knock in a winning chase leaves one wanting for more. But his 84 that guided India to a semifinal victory over Australia in the Champions Trophy in Dubai had that touch of incompleteness to it.
A familiar Kohli hundred on Tuesday would have been his 25th three-figure mark while hunting down a target. But the master would not be too displeased about the knock he eventually managed as he ticked many boxes. Here are the two most important of them.
Box No.1: He tamed spinners, an Achilles Heel that haunted him for long, and more recently exploited by England's Adil Rashid and Bangladesh's Rishad Hossain.
Box No.2: The fifty was full of determination to defeat an opponent who had given India and him several heartbreaks in the past. Through it, he, perhaps, was conveying his readiness to battle on for some more time, conquer some more peaks.
But that has not come without its share of hard work. Kohli had to spend an extra two hours at nets to polish his skills ahead of the match against Pakistan after he was dismissed by Hossain against Bangladesh.
Subsequently, he negated Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed, but Adam Zampa is in a different league as a white ball leg-spinner.
The slow Dubai pitch that slows down even more during the second half would have given more zing to Zampa's craft.
Since their first meeting in 2017, Zampa had dismissed Kohli five times in white ball formats, and counterattack has been Kohli's preferred way to nullify the Aussie leg-spinner.
Before the Champions Trophy match, Kohli had made 264 runs off 245 balls against him at a strike-rate of 107.
But the nature of the pitch here demanded a different approach from Kohli as he ticked off Zampa, taking 23 off 24 balls. He also made 12 runs off nine balls against Tanveer Sangha.
It was not spectacular but effective in a tricky chase of 265, even though he eventually fell to Zampa. But much after the team's job was done.
India will hope from Kohli to carry the same form in the final of Champions Trophy 2025.
(With PTI Inputs)