Champions Trophy 2025: New Zealand prepared to counter ‘big threat’ Varun Chakravarthy in final
New Zealand coach Gary Stead said the BlackCaps will be better prepared to face Varun Chakravarthy in the Champions Trophy final on Sunday, March 9. Varun caught the BlackCaps off guard in the Group A game on 2 May, picking up five wickets on his Champions Trophy debut. The mystery spinner ran through New Zealand’s batting order, finishing with figures of 5 for 52, taking the key wickets of Will Young, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner, as India successfully defended 249 in Dubai.
Having already played a game in Dubai, New Zealand will be better prepared to handle the sluggish conditions expected on Sunday.
“We certainly expect him to play after getting 5 for 42 against us in the last game. He is a class bowler and showed his skills against us last time, and he’s a big threat in the game,” Stead said in Dubai on Friday.
“So we’ll be putting our thinking caps on around how we nullify that and how we can still score runs against him,” he added.
Varun Chakravarthy warmed the bench in the first two group games before being unleashed against New Zealand. The Kolkata Knight Riders spinner was a late addition to India’s Champions Trophy squad after being named as the replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah.
Varun was in fine form against Australia in the semi-final as well. He picked up the crucial wicket of Travis Head and finished with figures of 2 for 49.
Meanwhile, Gary Stead played down discussions about India having an advantage by playing all their games in Dubai. The head coach said New Zealand would look to learn from their previous game at the venue, emphasising that it now comes down to performing in the one-off final.
“The decision around that (the schedule) is out of our hands, so it’s not something we worry about too much. India have got to play all their games here in Dubai, but we have had a game here, and we’ll learn very quickly from that experience.
“So when you come to this stage of the tournament-I mean, we’ve had eight teams at the start, and we’re down to two now-it’s always exciting to be in this situation. From our perspective, it just comes down to a one-off game now, and if we’re good enough to beat India on Sunday, then I will be happy,” Stead said.
