Champions Trophy 2025: New Zealand opt to bowl against India in last group stage match

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and chose to bowl first against India in their final ICC Champions Trophy 2025 group stage match at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, March 2.

The outcome of this fixture will determine the semifinal matchups, with South Africa and Australia already securing the top two positions in Group B.

Both teams enter the contest with perfect records in the tournament. New Zealand defeated hosts Pakistan in their opener and followed with a victory over Bangladesh to secure their semifinal berth. Similarly, India has showcased dominant form with wins against Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"We'll have a bowl first; looks like a good wicket. Want to put some pressure early, and hopefully, it skids on well later," Santner said at the toss. "We still want to win; we know we are going to be in Lahore later, but our job here is to do a job here."

The Kiwis made one change to their lineup, bringing in Daryl Mitchell while Devon Conway sits out.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who would have preferred to bat first anyway, confirmed a single change to his squad with spinner Varun Chakravarthy replacing pacer Harshit Rana.

"The approach will be very similar to the previous games, just trying to do the same things," Sharma said, emphasising consistency in India's game plan.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy

New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O'Rourke