NZ Coach Sees Varun Chakravarthy As Major Threat: New Zealand Cricket Team head coach Gary Stead has named Indian spin bowler Varun Chakravarthy as a major threat against his team in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final.
The India Vs New Zealand final will be played on March 9 in the Dubai International Stadium despite Pakistan being the primary host of CT 2025. This is because India has been playing all their games in Dubai due to safety concerns.
The Indian Cricket Team finished on top of Group A after winning all their games, defeating Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand in the group stage. They then defeated Australia fairly comfortably in the semifinal to book their place in a third Champions Trophy final in a row. New Zealand, on the other hand, finished second in Group A by winning against Bangladesh and Pakistan but losing to India before defeating South Africa in a one-sided semifinal.
Check Out: NZ Coach Sees Varun Chakravarthy As Major Threat
For India’s previous two games, which were the group game against the Kiwis and the semifinal against the Aussies, the team made a change to bring in a fourth spinner in the playing XI, that being Varun Chakravarthy. In the two games he has played in this competition, the Tamil Nadu mystery spinner has taken seven wickets and given just 82 runs in 18 overs.
Varun was even the Player of the Match in the group game against New Zealand, taking a fifer and dismantling the Black Caps’ batting attack. He has been an overall upgrade for the Men in Blue in their last two games, which were against tougher teams in this competition.
NZ Coach Sees Varun Chakravarthy As Major Threat
Chakravarthy is now being looked at as a threat by the opposition as well. Following the bowler spinning a web against his team in their previous meeting, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead spoke about the 33-year-old in a recent press conference ahead of the final. While addressing the media, Stead said that the team needs to find a way to tackle the challenge presented by the Indian spinner, saying,
“So, look, we certainly expect him to play after getting 5 for 42 against us in the last game. And yeah, we’ll be planning our, I guess, intentions around that as well. There’s no doubt he’s a class bowler. He obviously showed his skills against us last time and he’s a big, big threat in the game. So, we’ll be putting our thinking caps on how we nullify that and how we can still score runs against him. “I think when you have a wrist spinner like that, then you’re looking for cues as a batsman. And I think it’s always a little bit easier when you’re in the daylight to see those things”
Stead went on to share his observation that the pitch on which India took on Australia in the semis was more batter-friendly than the one on which the Kiwis faced India.
“All our batsmen will have their individual plans around how they want to combat them, and then it comes down to, I think, good communications in the middle and sometimes a little bit of bravery to take those options on. So, we’re certainly up for that. We’re up for that challenge of what India will bring, and we know that they’ve got four very capable spinners,” said Gary Stead.
Varun Chakravarthy is proving to be India’s ace in the ICC Championship Trophy 2025. His performances will also make the Kolkata Knight Riders happy, who retained Varun for IPL 2025, which will commence on March 22 with defending champions KKR taking on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
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