Watch: India’s Practice Session ahead of the Champions Trophy Final against New Zealand

Team Men In Blue is set to face the Black Caps in the electrifying clash on  9 March 2025 on Dubai Grounds. Coming undefeated for this clash in the whole tournament, India stands an upper hand as the team has been playing on the ground of Dubai. On the other hand, New Zealand is coming with an armstrong win over South Africa from the knockout clash. It’s the same advantage for the Blackcaps as they have also played a match at the ground.

Both the teams are sweating hard in their respective practice sessions ahead of the final countdown to make everything count before they head to face each other in the final clash.

India’s Practise Session Highlights: A Cool Sweating Session

India has started their net practice session in the ICC Academy. Before starting the net practice, the main stalwarts, RO-KO, were seen to be very calm and composed and stood relaxed after their respective net sessions.

Virat Kohli was also seen signing autographs for his fans when they reached the ICC Academy for the practice Sessions.

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Seeing the pitch of the ground, which is spinner-friendly, Indian Batters have practiced a lot against spinners. Kohli was seen practicing steers and dabs, alongside getting a stride out while facing a left-arm side-arm thrower from around the wicket. He smashed some shots but ended up caught on the outside edge by Axar in the practice session. With the practice session, Kohli targeted his aim at  New Zealand’s spinners, especially one certain Mitchell Santner. The thought process was clear—pick the length early, play late. 

Rohit, the skipper, mostly looked to have a feel of the bat on the ball. Shubman Gill was perhaps trying to perfect his back-and-across trigger, with most of the deliveries from the seamers coming into him. His vision could be to nullify Matt Henry’s wobble seamer. Kl Rahul was also seen arriving early for the session and was seen kicking shots, employing reverse sweeps, and reverse hits. He probably wants to bring that shot out in a match while facing an off-spinner.

Bowlers, on the other hand, were seen trying variations with the ball. Varun was practising googly whereas Shammi was having a chat with Morne Morkel about how to continue his momentum and bring his bowling action on crease.