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Rohit Sharma-led Team India is taking on New Zealand in the summit clash of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Sunday, March 9. While the Men in Blue are coming with straight wins, New Zealand, on the other hand, has only registered one loss, which came on Sunday, March 2 in Dubai against India.
As the two skippers, Rohit Sharma and Mitchell Santner took the field for the toss, the former once again came on the losing side. With this, India registered its 15th straight toss defeat which in unbeaten since the 2023 ODI World Cup. In the ongoing match, Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bat first.
Rohit Sharma equals Brian Lara’s record for losing most consecutive tosses in ODIs
However, the decision did not go in favour of the Indian skipper, with this, the 37-year-old also equalled Brian Lara’s record. It is to be noted that Lara has the record for losing the most consecutive tosses in ODIs, which is 12. On Sunday, Rohit Sharma also registered his 12th straight toss defeat in the 50-over format.
"We have been here enough, batted first and bowled first, don't really mind batting second. It hasn't changed much, we've chased and won as well. It does give you a lot of confidence, takes the toss away from the game. At the end of the day, what matters is how well you want to play," Rohit Sharma said. "That's what we've spoken about in the dressing room, not to worry about the toss and to just play well, that's what we've done and we have to do today as well. New Zealand have been a very good team over the past so many years, they tend to play good cricket in ICC tournaments. The challenge for us is to play well against them now. Same team for us," he added.
India vs New Zealand ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Final Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, William ORourke
