New Zealand head coach Gary Stead feels that the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy holds the key for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 finals in Dubai on March 9, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
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.
“I think that’s just about adapting and working out on your feet what you think the par score is for the day and trying to be a bit ahead of that.”
“I think the danger is you come from scoring 360-odd in a game and you think you will do that again immediately and go a little bit hard. So for us, it’s just working out what the right tactic is on the day, who we are faced up against as well, and then adapting to that.”
“We have had a game here, and will learn from that experience. We had eight teams at the start and are down to two now. From our perspective, it just comes down to a one-off game now.”
The coach also backed Kane Williamson, and Rachin Ravindra, both of whom scored a century in the semis to come good again.
“He (Kane) is a guy who rises for big occasions and has done it many times for New Zealand in the past. He is one of those unique individuals around the world who can adapt to different surfaces, and he seems to be able to do that faster than many other players. So look, fingers crossed from our perspective that Kane has a big day.”
“Rachin had that nasty blow on his head in Lahore (during a Tri-series) when we played there, but he’s come back and shown his class. He is one of those batsmen who seems to be able to score at a run-a-ball without trying that hard. Coupled with his ability to bowl some left-arm spin as well, he is an important player in our team. I know he is looking forward to what’s coming up ahead on Sunday,” said Stead.
Published – March 07, 2025 03:00 pm IST
