New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, March 9.
At the toss, Santner confirmed that pacer Matt Henry has been ruled out of the crucial match due to an injury sustained during the semi-final against South Africa. Nathan Smith has been named as his replacement in the playing XI.
India head into the final with an unbeaten record, having dominated their way through the tournament and defeating Australia in the semi-final. New Zealand, despite a group-stage loss to India, have shown strong performances throughout and earned their spot in the final after a convincing win over South Africa.
Speaking after the toss, Santner said, “We’re going to have a bat first. It looks like a pretty good wicket, similar to the one we played India on a week ago. We want to get runs on the board and see what happens later. Unfortunately, Matt Henry has been ruled out, so Nathan Smith comes in.”
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed his team would stick to the same playing XI that featured in the semi-final against Australia. “We’ve batted first and bowled first here, and it hasn’t really changed much. At the end of the day, it’s about how well you play. New Zealand have been a very good team in ICC tournaments, and the challenge for us is to bring our best game today,” Rohit said.
Playing XIs:
New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke, Nathan Smith.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.