If you want a peek into the absurdity of the ongoing 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, here you go. 

The Indian cricket team, based here in Dubai for the entire duration of the tournament, will play its third match in 15 days of being in the city, and first in six days following their six-wicket win over Pakistan. India had one midweek training session at the ICC Academy, followed by another rest day, and only practiced again on Friday as opposed to the traditional day before the match. 

After this last Group A match against New Zealand, India have 24 hours before they head into the tournament’s first semi-final, which means that they will likely not train on Monday. 

Their opponents in this final group match on Sunday, the Black Caps, landed in the UAE the afternoon after they beat Bangladesh by five wickets in Rawalpindi – where two ODIs in a row have been washed out without a ball being bowled – and after spending nearly a month in Pakistan as they sailed unbeaten through a tri-series and then won both their Champions Trophy games. New Zealand did not train on Wednesday or Thursday, but used Friday afternoon to do so at the ICC Academy and will follow the regular routine of again practicing on match eve as well. 

Welcome to the lopsided nature of the Champions Trophy, folks, a tournament calling out for context in 2025’s crammed cricket calendar – it floats like a stray plastic bottle on the sea between two land bodies known as the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup – and one which cannot afford back-to-back abandonments due to rain in Rawalpindi. 

And thus, these two teams playing each other on Sunday – for the first time, surprisingly, in 25 years at the Champions Trophy – are not just pre-tournament favourites but also the likeliest to give spectators at the ground and on TV the first competitive match of the Dubai leg of the Champions Trophy.

Considering what happened the last time India and New Zealand played cricket together – 3-0 to Tom Latham’s unfancied team in the Tests, anyone? – there is also the angle of Rohit Sharma’s team needing to bounce back with a fitting reply.

There are murmurs of Rohit being unfit after a suspected hamstring injury during the Pakistan match last Sunday, but even though the Indian captain did not bat at the midweek nets session here in Dubai there does not seem to be any indication that he will sit this match out. 

Shubman Gill had a solo batting session at the ICC Academy on Thursday, which dispelled doubts over the team vice-captain’s participation against New Zealand. 

If at all the Indian team management makes changes, it could be to the bowling. But there’s enough of an argument that there is no need to rest players given that India have had six days off between games – on top of the obvious advantage they have being based in Dubai for the whole tournament – even factoring in that their semi-final is on Tuesday. Expect a full-strength team against New Zealand on Sunday. 

The Black Caps trained before India did at the ICC Academy on Friday, and speaking to reporters before the net session the allrounder Michael Bracewell identified this match as “huge” ahead of New Zealand’s semi-final in Lahore next Wednesday. 

“We’ve got a huge match against India first, and I think if we can look at this like another playoff match, then we’re going to put ourselves in a good position to be able to win critical moments,” said Bracewell, who also stressed that the Black Caps would not take this match lightly and intend to put their best 11 on the field. 

Player of the Match in the last game for taking four wickets, the 34-year-old referenced not just his team’s Test whitewash of India in October but also the Black Caps’ record against this opposition at ICC white-ball tournaments. The head-to-head stands at 9-5 in favour of New Zealand, who have won all three T20 World Cup games against India, five at ODI World Cups and the one match they came up against each other at the Champions Trophy. 

That was in the second edition of the tournament, back in October 2000 when it was known as the ICC Knockout. On that day, Stephen Fleming’s team beat Sourav Ganguly’s more fancied India to won what stands as the Black Caps’ only ICC ODI title to date. 

And Bracewell is confident of this current team extending the misery on India. “Obviously, coming off a great Test series win, it gives us a lot of confidence that we can, and we’ve got a really good record against India in ICC events,” he said. “So, I think we like to take the game just game by game, and not try and let the moment get to us. It’s worked well for us in the past. I think we don’t like to put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Australian great Matthew Hayden has described Black Caps batsman Rachin Ravindra as the complete package, and after a match-winning century in the tournament opener – following two games out with concussion – the 25-year-old now has the most hundreds for New Zealand at ICC ODI events. This makes him un-droppable, and with Daryl Mitchell set to return to the team, as Bracewell suggested, it seems as if the axe will fall on Will Young. 

India probable XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Axar Patel, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav

New Zealand probable 11: 1 Rachin Ravindra, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Will O’Rourke