It is not New Zealand's history but its present that is troubling them, it is not easy for Team India to win the final now.

After the World Cup 2019 semi-final, World Test Championship final and World Cup 2023 semi-final, India and New Zealand are once again facing each other in a knockout match. This time the match is going to be for the title of Champions Trophy as the final of the tournament is going to be held on March 9 between India and New Zealand. Team India made it to the title match by defeating Australia in the first semi-final, while New Zealand defeated South Africa. Now Indian cricket fans are talking about revenge but the truth is that South Africa's defeat is not good news for Team India because defeating New Zealand may prove to be a tough task.

In the last two and a half decades, if any one team has troubled India the most in ICC tournaments, then it is New Zealand. Be it the final of the ICC Knockout the semi-final of World Cup 2019 or the World Test Championship final, whenever the Indian team looked in a position to win the title, New Zealand has hurt India. In such a situation, New Zealand being in the final against India again is troubling the fans of Team India. However, in the same tournament, Team India defeated New Zealand last Sunday, yet there is a fear.

The clash with South Africa could have been easy.

But this time the truth and concern are different. This time it is not about old records. The current Indian team has the ability to forget all the old records and win the title by defeating the Kiwi team, but if seen, South Africa's defeat in the semi-finals has brought bad news for the Indian team. The reason for this is the composition of both the teams and the venue of the final, where the New Zealand team captained by Mitchell Santner is a bigger threat to India.

Actually, this final match is to be played at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai, where Team India played all its four matches including the semi-finals. In such a situation, the Indian team has experience. Also, Team India has players according to the conditions of this ground, in which spin-heavy bowling attack is the most important. Team India has so far included at least 3 spinners (2 spin all-rounders) in the playing eleven in this tournament, while in the last 2 matches the team came on the field with 4 spinners and it also benefited from it.

New Zealand will cause a lot of trouble in the final

There is a possibility that Team India will play with the same line-up in the final as well. Now if South Africa had defeated New Zealand in its semi-final match, Team India could have benefited from it because the Indian team has a quality spin-attack while South Africa is very weak in this regard. It had one main spinner and one part-time spinner. Also, it did not play a single match in Dubai and this is where the New Zealand team is a big challenge for India.

Just like Team India, New Zealand also has 4 spinners (2 part time spin all-rounders) and in terms of ability, they are not far behind the Indian spinners. In the group stage match, these Kiwi spinners had also put Team India in trouble. Not only this, this Kiwi team has also got the experience of playing in the current conditions of Dubai, due to which they can adjust to the conditions and pose a challenge to India. This means that this final is not going to be easy for India at all and anything can happen on March 9.