India and New Zealand will clash in CT 2025 final on Sunday, March 9.
Former batting legend Sunil Gavaskar believes that despite reaching the Champions Trophy 2025 final, India is still not performing to its full potential. India has won all four of its matches in Dubai, including a victory over New Zealand in the group stage.
While the performances have been excellent, Gavaskar believes they have not been perfect. Speaking to India Today, the cricket veteran said that openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had battled for consistency in recent games. Gavaskar also stated that the new ball assault needed to take more wickets in the opening ten overs.
The legend also thought that India hasn't been gaining many wickets in the middle overs, despite controlling the flow of runs. Gavaskar believes that if India improves in these areas, they will have a chance to win the final.
"They haven't because when you look at the openers, they haven't really given the Indian team the kind of start that they had hoped for. That has not happened. So, clearly, I think there's a shortcoming over there. Even with the new ball, you might want to in the first 10 overs. You definitely want to take about 2 or 3 wickets. That's also not quite been happening. In the middle overs, we have not gotten wickets, even though the runs have not been flowing. So those are areas that you get better in those areas; the better the chances of going on and winning the final," said Gavaskar on India Today.
Gavaskar also said that India shouldn't make any changes to their lineup and should go with 4 spinners in the final.
"I think it is going to be 4 spinners. It has to be. Why change now? It's shown Chakravarthy's inclusion, and Kuldeep's inclusion has shown how effective they can be. And also, wicket-taking balls are the best dot balls in limited-overs cricket or any format of the game. So they've been doing that, so there should be no change at all," said Gavaskar.
India and New Zealand previously met in two ICC trophy finals, and New Zealand has won both games. New Zealand defeated India in the final of the 2000 Knockout Trophy and then in the final of the WTC 2021.
The summit clash of the ICC Champions Trophy will be played on Sunday, March 9, in Dubai.