Champions Trophy 2025: The grand finale between Rohit Sharma's India and Mitchell Santner's New Zealand is expected to keep fans at the edge of their sets with jaw-dropping action expected at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
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00:00India take on New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final.
00:04And here we are for one last time at Clash of Champions.
00:08This is me Debo Deena Chakraborty with Alan Jose John.
00:12And today we talk about the 5 things that every Indian cricket fan needs to keep in mind
00:18before sitting on your couch and switching on the Champions Trophy final on March 9th.
00:23So Alan, big time, big match. Lot at stake.
00:33That ICC ODI title, the long awaited one.
00:37And they face New Zealand who have been in considerable good form throughout this tournament.
00:42Beating South Africa, India beating Australia. Excited?
00:46Oh, definitely. It's probably the best match that we can have at the moment.
00:51Two good teams. There is nothing to separate them in terms of pure player battle perspective also.
01:01Everything matches up. You have got two giant teams going at it. It's going to be a cracker.
01:06So for the very first pointer that viewers need to keep in mind, I'm going to talk about Dubai.
01:12We all know that the advantage of playing in Dubai, everybody is blaming that on India.
01:18Is it fair, if you look at it from the spinners perspective, if we all say that spinners has been the key to victories on Dubai.
01:26New Zealand have their own fair share of spinners like Mitchell Sandner, Bracewell.
01:32So do you think there is any notion of advantage going around?
01:35See, this question of advantage, I'm so tired of it.
01:38Like some people saying they have advantage, some people saying these guys have advantage.
01:43Like I said, both teams are equally matched. India are carrying four spinners.
01:48Of which two of them, again, they always trust on the fact that two of them are all-rounders.
01:53New Zealand have Mitchell Sandner, their main man, Michael Bracewell who has stepped up massively.
01:59So you have got two equally matched sides. No advantage is there.
02:04Whichever team reads the pitch very well, they are going to have the advantage on the day.
02:10Because you don't have a crystal ball to predict what is going to happen.
02:15It is as simple as that. You have got conditions, you have got experience playing.
02:19India has played four matches, New Zealand will now play their second match here.
02:24So both teams are balanced, both teams know about the pitch.
02:28Let's just stop talking about who has the advantage.
02:31And the ones who are talking, they themselves have enjoyed familiarity advantage and done absolutely brilliant things.
02:39Oh yeah, absolutely. These people who are talking, mainly coming from English media,
02:45I wonder why they are not talking about, you know, playing…
02:49They have already played in the subcontinent, yes?
02:51Exactly.
02:52They are maybe thinking that we have lost the India Series, we have lost the Champions Trophy.
03:01Our aim is now the ODI World Cup 2027. I think that is what their plan is.
03:05If we can win ODI World Cup 2027, this does not matter.
03:09So maybe they should discuss about what their team needs to do.
03:12Because they are in absolute tatters at the moment.
03:14Good for nothing team that needs to genuinely…
03:18Let's not beat around the bush.
03:21Since they are not mincing about words, let's not also mince about words.
03:25You need a big reset, please focus on that.
03:28We will take care of finals because finals is clearly not for you guys at the moment.
03:32Yeah, let's go.
03:33The next topic we are going to discuss is Varun Chakravarthy.
03:36Oh yeah.
03:37Varun Chakravarthy, as we all know it, has built himself up to be the key man in focus for this big clash.
03:43Yeah.
03:44And I want to know your opinion that do you think the whole 5 wicket haul,
03:49the stress factor for opponents, is it still going to stay the same
03:53now that New Zealand have a taste of what the Indian line-up is like,
03:57what kind of conditions they have to play with, do you think it's still going to be there?
04:02See, Varun Chakravarthy currently, and I want to say it,
04:07he is playing the role of a Jasprit Bumrah in this side.
04:10Might be a big statement, I have made it, that's it.
04:13For the last one year or so, you have seen Varun improve as a bowler.
04:18He has been more thinking about what is the kind of line and length that he needs to go to.
04:23You look at Travis Head's wicket for that matter.
04:26It was his first ball. He knew that Travis Head was going to come at him.
04:30Yet, he stuck to his line, caught the wicket.
04:33So Varun is obviously going to be a threat for these guys.
04:37Especially what we saw on Sunday, last Sunday.
04:40Because I thought at that one point in time, when Varun and nobody was getting that breakthrough,
04:45I thought okay, New Zealand are going to chase this down, end of story.
04:48But then he changed the game.
04:50So obviously that is going to be playing in their minds.
04:52Obviously they have said that we are going to try to nullify this threat and what not.
04:57But it is going to play in their minds.
04:59And Varun is a very, very improved bowler at this point in time.
05:02So you cannot write him off. He is going to be one of the key factors.
05:06If India are going to win, Varun's performance.
05:09If New Zealand are going to win, how they handled him.
05:12Alright, next up, another big man, another key player for the big clash has to be Virat Kohli.
05:20It has to be Virat Kohli.
05:22He is back in his mojo.
05:24He is getting the runs on his back.
05:27But now comes the big moment.
05:29Virat Kohli in big moments, we have never seen the man fail, have we?
05:33Rarely. Rarely we have seen him fail.
05:36So expecting the same because this time he goes up against the likes of Mitchell Sander
05:40who has been good form, in good form with the ball.
05:44So there is a funny stat.
05:45So Virat Kohli has faced 259 deliveries against Mitchell Sander in his ODI career.
05:50He has scored 180 runs of which 138 has been singles.
05:54Only 5 boundaries.
05:55And he has gotten out to Mitchell Sander 3 times.
05:58Mitchell Sander is a very underrated bowler.
06:00Let's start with that.
06:02He, going up against South Africa in that big run chase in the semi-final
06:07bowled 3 beautiful deliveries to get rid of Themba Bahuma,
06:11a well-set Themba Bahuma, a well-set Rassi Van Der Bessen and the main man Andre Klaassen.
06:17So if Virat Kohli, God forbid, he kind of...
06:22Where is wood?
06:23Wood.
06:24We don't have wood.
06:26So if he survives another Glenn Phillips catch, my God, that man has been incredible.
06:32If he survives that, goes into the middle phase, that is where Mitchell Sander is going to come in.
06:37So the key is avoid Glenn Phillips.
06:39At all costs.
06:40At all costs.
06:41Put the ball across the ground.
06:43I am pretty sure he will catch that also.
06:46It should be 90 metres above Glenn Phillips.
06:49Clear it above him.
06:50That is it.
06:51So if Virat Kohli survives that whole initial phase, we have seen how he has handled things.
06:58He has been very calm.
07:00That calmness has given an identity to the Indian team so far in this tournament.
07:04If he can do that, then comes the Mitchell Sander test.
07:08And that is the biggest test.
07:09If he succeeds in that, India is going to win this title.
07:14Now, one man, one hero done.
07:16We move on to the next hero.
07:18That is inevitably Rohit Sharma.
07:20The Indian captain.
07:21Indian captain Rohit Sharma has not been in that good of a touch in this tournament so far.
07:26But you know he has always been about that attitude setting guy from the opening stand.
07:31That he will whack the ball out.
07:33He does not care about the milestones.
07:35And he has repeatedly emphasised on it.
07:37But do you think in a match of this calibre, in a match of this much importance,
07:43potentially both of their last ODI games, we never know.
07:47We never know.
07:48Do you think a big knock from the Indian captain is necessary at this point?
07:53Or the attitude thing still stays intact?
07:55First of all, I want him to win a toss.
07:58Let's see.
07:59Or some people are saying let him lose a toss and win the match.
08:03Either way.
08:04So far so good.
08:05So far so good.
08:06In terms of his approach, see.
08:08Whatever runs that he scores.
08:10Or whatever mode of dismissals, whatever comes into play.
08:14That's all down to his approach.
08:15Exactly.
08:16This is where I feel maybe going into the final, he should try to play the big knocks.
08:21I had a look at his 5 best knocks, 5 highest scores in ODIs.
08:25The funniest thing is, every single game, out of them, the 264, the 209, the 208,
08:33then there is a 171 against Australia and then there is a 162 against West Indies.
08:37All of them, he has gone past the 40th over.
08:41And in the 264 game, he scored his 50 in 72 balls.
08:46His 100 in 100 balls.
08:48And 150 in 125.
08:51It has gone up a notch.
08:53Every single time, he was accelerating.
08:55So maybe that is what is needed.
08:57Instead of going hammer and tongs at the first attempt,
09:01maybe he should just say that whatever balls are there for me to hit,
09:05if I am fully confident, I will go for it.
09:07Otherwise, let me just play a big knock.
09:10Because we need a big knock.
09:11Kohli's 100 against Pakistan has been the one big knock that we have seen here.
09:16The other ones have all been kind of short cameos.
09:19We need a big daddy 100 from the big man himself.
09:22Big daddy 100 indeed.
09:24So finally, I will reveal the reason why I am wearing the Real Madrid jersey.
09:28Why I am keeping both fingers crossed.
09:31It's because I am...
09:33You know that I am one for the superstition kind.
09:35I am taking all kinds of assurance from the very get go.
09:40So I want India to pull on the Real Madrid thingy in the final.
09:45Because Real Madrid don't lose finals.
09:47My whole point is that India does not just have to fight New Zealand in the final.
09:54They have to fight a huge list of jinxes.
09:57Very first, we all know that India have already defeated New Zealand in the group stage.
10:02What we also know that every time that India have defeated someone in the group stage
10:06and have faced the same opponent in the final.
10:09Yeah, 2023 is not a great memory in any of our minds.
10:13Then again, we go to Sundays.
10:15India does not like Sundays, bro.
10:18They do not like Sundays.
10:19Every time they have played a tournament final on a Sunday.
10:23Well, not a good memory either.
10:26So, what do you think?
10:28Is this the time for Rohit Sharma to break another jinx with his story?
10:32I think I would probably...
10:34If you tell this to Rohit Sharma, his reaction would be...
10:36These jinxes are for you people too.
10:40See, at the end of the day, we are all a little bit superstitious.
10:47And you have all these things happening.
10:49But these things are meant to be broken.
10:51So, I expect the Indian team to come up and give a very good performance.
10:56Because they have been by far the best team in this tournament.
10:59Batting-wise, bowling-wise.
11:01Yes, there have been a few jitters here and there.
11:04But apart from that, they have been perfect.
11:06So, let's just not get too much into it.
11:09What is the time?
11:11Okay, it's going to be 5.
11:12So, yeah, probably 6 o'clock I have to find a church.
11:15And then go to a temple, a mosque, a gurudwara.
11:18Packed schedule.
11:20Completely packed schedule.
11:21I am also not taking any chances.
11:23But I am still fully confident that the Indian team can do this.
11:28So, these are the few things that you need to...
11:30This is the most important thing that you need to keep in mind.
11:34Before you switch on.
11:36And switch on with a lot of expectations when you are watching the India vs New Zealand final.
11:40So, this is me, Debodina Chakraborty.
11:42With Alan Hussain Khan.
11:44And yup.
11:45Best of luck India.
11:46Best of luck to you guys.
11:47And tell us your predictions on the comments below.