NOT KOHLI! Ravi Shastri Picks His Player Of The Match For The Final

In recent times, India vs New Zealand has proven to be a proper heavyweight battle in ICC events, with the sides clashing against each other in the 2023 ODI World Cup semis, 2021 T20 World Cup group stages, 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) final and the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final.

And across these clashes, a plethora of individuals have stepped up, with Mohammed Shami being the most recent of them all, with the speedster taking 7/57 in the 2023 ODI WC semis to propel the Men in Blue to the final. 

Varun Chakaravarthy bagged the Player of the Match award in the group stage clash between these two sides, and according to former India coach Ravi Shastri, it will again be a spinner who will win the big honours in the grand finale on March 9 (Sunday).

“Player of the Match, I would go for an all-rounder,” he said in The ICC Review. “I'll say Axar Patel or Ravindra Jadeja from India.

“From New Zealand, I think that Glenn Phillips has something up. He might just show flashes of brilliance in the field. He might come and smash a cameo of 40, 50 and probably surprise you by taking a wicket or two.”

Shastri further reckoned that we might see changes from both sides heading into the final. 

“I won't be surprised if there might be a change for either side depending on the pitch,” Shastri said. 

"Because the pitch we saw against Australia was the best pitch we've seen in the tournament.

“So the groundsman has another five days since the last game to prepare a surface and if it's a 280-300 surface like the last one was, you might just want to think about it. But you won't tinker with the side unless necessary.”

India have looked unstoppable all tournament, and have not come remotely close to losing in this Champions Trophy thus far. They’ve been borderline invincible, particularly with the conditions in Dubai suiting their strength.

But according to Shastri, if there’s one team that can stop India, it’s the Blackcaps.

“If there's one team that can beat India, it's New Zealand,” Shastri said. So India start as favourites but only just.”