India and New Zealand are set to clash in Dubai today in the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy. The Indian team has won all four of its matches in the Champions Trophy, while the New Zealand team has suffered its only defeat against India in the league stage of this tournament. “In 2000, both countries also faced each other in the final of this tournament. Then New Zealand defeated India to win its first ICC trophy.
Although New Zealand’s record in ICC finals is quite good, there is a ‘double fear’ hidden in these statistics, which no Indian fan would want to witness. New Zealand will be playing in their seventh ICC final.
The New Zealand team has played a total of six ICC finals so far, losing four and winning two. Surprisingly, the two finals that New Zealand has won are against India. The New Zealand team entered the ICC final for the first time in the year 2000. New Zealand then faced India in the Champions Trophy final, securing a thrilling four-wicket victory. The result of the match was out with just two balls remaining. At that time, India’s captain was Sourav Ganguly and New Zealand’s captain was Stephen Fleming. After that, New Zealand was defeated by Australia in the next two ICC finals.
The Kangaroos have won the 2009 Champions Trophy final and the 2015 ODI World Cup final against the Kiwis. New Zealand was defeated by England in a thrilling 2019 ODI World Cup final. The match went to a Super Over, and England won based on the boundary countback rule.
Meanwhile, New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets in the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) in 2021. India was led by Virat Kohli at the time. The Kiwi team played their last ICC final in 2021. New Zealand was defeated by Australia by eight wickets in the T20 World Cup final at that time.
India may have lost to New Zealand twice in ICC finals, but captain Rohit Sharma’s record against the Kiwis has been excellent. In such a situation, the expectations of Indian fans from Rohit are very high. Notably, Rohit has never lost to New Zealand in an ICC tournament as a captain. India defeated the Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand team by 44 runs in the last league match of the current tournament. The Rohit Brigade defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the league stage and by 70 runs in the semi-finals in the 2023 ODI World Cup. India will now not only look to settle scores by defeating New Zealand in the final but also aim to end its 12-year title drought in the Champions Trophy.
