IND-NZ will clash in the Champions Trophy final again after 25 years

India and New Zealand are going to clash in the Champions Trophy final once again after 25 years. Both will play the title match in Dubai on March 9. Earlier in 2000, New Zealand won the final at Nairobi ground by 4 wickets in the last over.

New Zealand has troubled India the most in the knockout matches of ICC tournaments. The team has also defeated India in the semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup and the final of the 2021 World Test Championship.

New Zealand won due to Chris Cairns' century

New Zealand has the only ICC title of limited overs cricket, the Champions Trophy. In the year 2000, India defeated Kenya, Australia and South Africa to make it to the final. At the same time, New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

In the final at the Nairobi ground, New Zealand won the toss and chose to field. Captain Sourav Ganguly from India scored 117 and Sachin Tendulkar scored 69 runs. Apart from these two, no other batsman could do anything special and the team could only score 264 runs after losing 6 wickets.

New Zealand lost 5 wickets for 132 runs. Here Chris Cairns took over the innings with Chris Harris. Both of them made a partnership of 122 runs for the sixth wicket and knocked India out of the match. Cairns scored a century and led the team to victory with 2 balls remaining. Cairns was also the Player of the Match.

Will clash for the third time in the Champions Trophy

Both teams will clash for the third time in the 27-year history of the Champions Trophy. Both of them also faced each other in the group stage this year, when India defeated New Zealand by 44 runs on the ground of Dubai. Now on March 9, both of them will face each other once again on the ground of Dubai.

New Zealand has defeated India in 63% ICC matches

In all ICC tournaments, 16 matches were played between India and New Zealand. New Zealand won 10 and Team India won only 6. However, in ICC ODI tournaments, both have won only equal matches. There were 12 matches between the two in the Champions Trophy and ODI World Cup, New Zealand won 6 and India won only 6.

New Zealand won 75% matches in the knockout stage

New Zealand not only dominates against India in ICC group stage matches, but also shows dominance in the knockout stage. There were 4 knockout matches between the two, New Zealand won 3 and India won only 1.

Before 2023, New Zealand had defeated India in all three knockout matches. These defeats were in the 2000 Champions Trophy final, the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final and the 2021 World Test Championship final. In the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final, India broke this trend and defeated New Zealand by 70 runs.

India has defeated New Zealand in 66% ODIs

Team India has definitely dominated New Zealand in overall ODI cricket. There were 95 matches between the two, India won 63 and New Zealand won only 30. That is, India's success rate was 66%. Both also played 1 tie and 1 inconclusive match.

India defeated 85% ODIs in the last 10 years

India has dominated New Zealand even more in the last 10 years. Since 2016, there have been 20 ODIs between the two, India won 17 and New Zealand won only 3. However, one of New Zealand's 3 wins came in the knockout stage of the ICC tournament.

Kohli's 6 centuries against New Zealand

Virat Kohli from India is the active player to score the most runs against New Zealand. He has scored 1656 runs against the Kiwi team by hitting 6 centuries in 32 ODIs. Rohit Sharma has scored 997 runs against New Zealand. At the same time, Shubman Gill has scored 592 runs in 11 matches at an average of 74.

Mohammed Shami is the active Indian player to take the most wickets against New Zealand. He has 37 wickets in 15 ODIs. Shami himself took 7 wickets against the team in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final. Kuldeep Yadav has taken 22 and Hardik Pandya 16 wickets against New Zealand.