Kolkata: 

Barely hours ahead of the final, both teams look balanced and well-equipped to handle difficult situations. India's batting looks sublime, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma leading the pack, and youngsters — Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Hardik Pandya — also in good nick to stave off any adversities under the able guidance of batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.

As far as bowling is concerned, comeback man Mohammad Shami (8 wickets in 4 matches) has been spearheading the attack with aplomb (in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah) with spinners — Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel — performing their roles with immaculate precision. Patel's evolution as a genuine all-rounder is a plus for Team India in the ongoing competition and further.

For India, it's been 12 years since they tasted success in the Champions Trophy. The opponents, New Zealand, have been without a trophy for 25 long years. So naturally, stakes are high and so is the enthusiasm in a relatively new location on the cricket map, the Dubai International Stadium.

Having beaten all top sides like Australia, Pakistan, and New Zealand in the group league and semi-final, Rohit Sharma's boys will be more than eager to pounce on the final frontier in a homely atmosphere today. The Kiwis would look for the law of averages to work in their favour.

The only decision for which the team management helmed by head coach Gautam Gambhir earned criticism is playing KL Rahul at number 6 and dropping someone as gifted as Rishabh Pant from the white-ball game.

It may be recalled that 22 summers ago, India's most dependable Test batter Rahul Dravid donned the big gloves and stood behind the stumps on the pretext of maintaining the balance of the then Team India led by Sourav Ganguly. The team management decision was taken when a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't arrive at the scene, and Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel were thought of as pushovers.

Cut to 2025, Team India under Gautam Gambhir has repeated the act with Rishabh Pant getting the axe from the XI and KL Rahul has been entrusted with the duty of the stumper. The decision 22 years ago worked for Team India, but has it clicked in the present circumstances? We will need some more time to assess Gambhir's audacious call.

Questions have started arising with Rishabh Pant cooling his heels on the bench even after being touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket after Virat Kohli defies logic. Also, a batter of the calibre of KL Rahul coming in at number 6 doesn't make sense either to former wicket-keeper batter Deep Dasgupta.

"KL Rahul is too good a batter to come in at number 6... I would like to see him up the order," former India wicketkeeper and commentator Deep Dasgupta told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction.

The fact that Rishabh Pant is not on the roster also seems to perturb the former stumper. "Rishabh Pant has been a leading performer and has done nothing wrong to get the axe in such a manner. But how he could be drafted in is the selectors' headache and not mine," Dasgupta said without mincing his words.

On the contrary, Kiwis are a jaded lot after shuttling from Rawalpindi to Dubai, Dubai to Lahore, and then again from Lahore to Dubai, thanks to the hybrid model of the tourney. With the most successful quick Matt Henry (with 10 scalps in four matches) still a doubtful starter, the Black Caps would desperately want him to roll his arms on Sunday. Henry sustained a shoulder injury while taking a catch to dismiss Rassie van der Dussen of South Africa in the second semi-final.

On the batting front, the Black Caps too look quite sorted with Rachin Ravindra (226 in as 4 matches), Tom Latham (191 in 4 matches) and Will Young (150 in 4 matches) in prime form and sitting pretty on the top of the batting list for the tournament. Former skipper Kane Williamson also cannot be discounted on the big stage.

So, if KL Rahul passes the test in front and behind the stumps, Pant's future in the top flight of the game would be on a slippery path, going by the current scenario.

However, both India and New Zealand seem to have their task cut out for today as they square up for the summit clash on the same 22 yards that was used for the high-octane India-Pakistan match on February 23.

If the wicket behaves the way it did on February 23, spinners will have a bigger role to play for both teams. In this department, India have a slight edge with Chakravarthy, Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep having the class and form to outplay the Kiwis. New Zealand coach Gary Stead will only have Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra and part-timer Glenn Phillips to bet on.

However, calculations can go haywire, with both teams having the wherewithal to spring up surprises to stun the opponents. Whatever, a cracker of a contest for the cricket buffs across the continents is surely on the cards.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Rishabh Pant.

New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O'Rourke, Nathan Smith, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy.

Read more:

Close To India-Pak Border, Balochistan And Khyber Pakhtunkhwa