ICC Champions Trophy IND vs NZ final: Varun Chakravarthy holds key for the match, says Gary Stead
The Hindu
New Zealand awaits Matt Henry's fitness for Champions Trophy final against India, focusing on spin threat and adapting to conditions.
New Zealand is sweating on the fitness of its pace spearhead, Matt Henry, ahead of Sunday’s (March 9, 2025) Champions Trophy final against India. Henry hurt his shoulder in the semifinal against South Africa in Lahore while taking a catch in the deep.
The 33-year-old took a five-for against India in the league game last week at this venue and is a key player for the Kiwis as someone who can give breakthroughs with the new ball.
“It was pretty uncomfortable. From our perspective, the positive thing was that he got back out there to bowl. We have had some scans and stuff done on him, and we are going to give him every chance to play in this match,” said head coach Gary Stead on Friday (March 7, 2025). “Still a little bit unknown at this stage and he is pretty sore from landing on his shoulder but hopeful he will be okay.”
In the group stage match against India, Varun Chakarvarthy left the Black Caps batting line-up in disarray by running through the middle-and lower-order, and Stead believes the mystery spinner will hold the key in the final.
“He showed his skills against us last time and he is a big threat in the game. We will put our thinking caps on how to nullify that and still score runs against him,” he added.
A big challenge for New Zealand will be how they handle India’s quartet of spinners, which could decide the outcome of the contest. “They are very good spinners, all in their own right. So, for us, (it is) being clear on our plans and working out. It could be a match-up that we decide within our team is the right one for us to go after. The other sorts of things, we will read through the match and work out what is the best way to go. Who knows, they might also have off days, and that could be in our advantage,” Stead chimed in.
On the challenge of coming from playing in a high-scoring game in Lahore to a venue where runs have been hard to come by, the former Kiwi cricketer warned about the pitfalls of trying to go hard.
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