ODI glory beckons the losers of the last two World Cup finals – India and New Zealand. Obviously, the defeats would sting both New Zealand, who lost on the boundary count to England in 2019, and India, who had an unbeaten campaign in 2023 until Australia punctured their plans in the grand final. However, ICC silverware would go a long way in healing the wounds even if partly.
The build-up to the knockouts has largely centred around the advantage for India in the tournament, playing at just one venue but anyone who has watched the tournament would easily make out that it is not the reason for the Men in Blue doing well in the competition. It is a short tournament, hence judging teams on just 2-3 matches won’t be right but the best two teams of the tournament are rightfully in the final. New Zealand men haven’t won a white-ball tournament for 25 years and would like to take some inspiration from the women who won the T20 World Cup a few months ago at this very venue.
India will start as firm favourites for two reasons, because of the spin attack they have got, which is superior to the Kiwis while having a bit better knowledge of the venue and the surface having played multiple games and done both batting and bowling first. New Zealand’s strength is the overall balance of their line-up. They will sweat over Matt Henry’s fitness, but should he be good, the Kiwis will be baying for blood and aim the repeat of 2000 and the WTC final in 2021.
Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchell, Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Phillips, Axar Patel (vc), Mitchell Santner, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy (c), William O’Rourke
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Varun ChakaravarthyRead Also
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New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Tom Latham(wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke, Matt Henry/Nathan Smith
