Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Blackcaps fret over Henry fitness ahead of Champions Trophy final
Reuters • March 9th, 2025 6:00 am
Photo: AP
Blackcaps captain Mitchell Santner could not confirm pace spearhead Matt Henry will be available for the Champions Trophy final but he's confident they can tame India's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
The tournament's leading wicket-taker Henry suffered a shoulder injury while taking an excellent catch in the deep in the semi-final against South Africa.
"Matt's going to have a bowl just to see how he is," Santner told reporters on the eve of Sunday's final. "I guess we'll make a call after that."
India beat New Zealand in a group match in Dubai last weekend when Chakravarthy claimed 5-42 with his bag of tricks that includes off-breaks, leg-breaks, googlies, not to mention the 'carrom ball' that he pushes with his knuckle.
Santner expected India to field a four-pronged spin attack again, retaining Chakravarthy, who burst into prominence after impressing in the Indian Premier League.
"He's obviously a world-class bowler; we've seen it here and obviously in the IPL and that little bit of mystery," Santner, in his first global tournament as New Zealand captain, said.
"But it was the first time some of the guys have been facing him. I think they'll learn from the other day."
India's mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy is the danger man for New Zealand | Photo: AP
New Zealand batters had seen more footage of Chakravarthy but Santner felt India's three other spinners could also prove a handful.
"If the pitch plays a similar way it's going to be a challenge along with all three of their other spinners.
"I think we obviously know what his (Chakravarthy) threats are now. That 115 kilometres per hour arm-ball that got me - that was a bit of a threat."
India ended an 11-year global title drought when they won the Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies last year under Rohit Sharma's captaincy, and stopping that barren run has allowed them to play the big matches without getting overwhelmed by the occasion, said opener Shubman Gill.
"Sometimes once you get one title, I think that kind of breaks the jinx," he told reporters at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
"It gives you the momentum, also you are not very desperate about getting the title. It's not good when desperation kicks in. Then it becomes hard to put the occasion out of the equation.
"I think winning the title in 2024 doesn't mean that we are less hungry but I think it makes us more balanced that, yes, we've won an ICC title and we'll try to do our best to win this one."
Mitchell Santner promises to be fired up if Blackcaps win Champions Trophy | Sport Nation
India remain the tournament's only unbeaten team, having comfortably won their group clash with the Black Caps.
They have been boosted by stalwart Virat Kohli's return to form and the firepower in their middle order.
"I think this is the best batting line-up that I have been part of," Gill said.
"Rohit and Virat are all-time one-day greats. Rohit is one of the best openers in white ball and Virat is one of the best ODI batsmen ever.
"The batting depth that we have has made life easier for the top order batsmen."
