New Zealand pinpoints India's 'major threat in the final' ahead of Champions Trophy: 'Time to strategize...'

India's bold decision to play with five spinners in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 has proven to be successful, with Rohit Sharma leading the team to the final of the prestigious tournament. The team is now eagerly anticipating their showdown with New Zealand in the championship match. In preparation for the highly anticipated clash, BlackCaps coach Gary Stead has revealed that his team is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to outplay the enigmatic spinner Varun Chakaravarthy.

Varun has played two matches in the ongoing edition, taking seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul. The spinner's contribution was the deciding factor in India's victory over the Kiwis in the Group A encounter in Dubai.

The 33-year-old bamboozled the Kiwi batting lineup on March 2, helping India top the group. Varun also got the much-needed wicket of Travis Head in India's semi-final against Australia.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead has now identified Varun as a major threat, saying the side will put on their thinking caps to deal with him.

“We expect him to play after getting 5/42 against us in the last game. He’s a class bowler and showed his skills against us last time and he’s a big threat in the game,” Stead told reporters 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.

'Schedule a bit hectic'

New Zealand coach also said that the schedule for his side has been hectic in the ongoing competition, but he is not looking to give any excuses.

After the game against India in Dubai, New Zealand travelled to Lahore to play the semi-final against South Africa, where they came out on top.

“There’s no doubt that coming here off playing Lahore and we had a full day of travel yesterday, then it just takes it out of you a little bit, but we’ve got a couple of days now of a little bit of recovery and planning and training towards the game,” he added.

Earlier, South Africa batter David Miller sparked debate after he revealed how his side had to travel to Dubai and then to Lahore for the semi-final. Ahead of India's match against New Zealand, both Australia and South Africa had flown to Dubai.

“It’s only an hour and 40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal,” Miller said.

“It’s early morning, it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm. And at 7:30 am, we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice,” he added.

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