New Delhi, March 7 On December 18, 2024, Mitchell Santner took charge as New Zealand’s white-ball captain, with his first major leadership assignment being the 2025 Champions Trophy. Cut to now, and Santner is now all set to lead the Blackcaps in the tournament’s title clash against India in Dubai on Sunday.
New Zealand has always been known as a side punching above their weight consistently in ICC tournaments and giving any opposition team a stiff challenge.
Here’s a SWOT Analysis from IANS on the Santner-led New Zealand ahead of them playing the 2025 Champions Trophy final.
Strength: New Zealand’s strength lies in both the batting and bowling departments. With the bat, Rachin Ravindra has been in prime form, as seen by his two centuries in the tournament. Kane Williamson has been at his premier best in the last two games, while Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, and Glenn Phillips lend more strength to the Blackcaps batting line-up.
With the ball, Santner, Phillips, Ravindra and Michael Bracewell being present means their bases are covered in spin-bowling department. Their fielding is also top-notch, as seen from New Zealand being the best team in terms of catches efficiency in the tournament.
Weakness: Though New Zealand played the Group A match against India in Dubai, they lost by 44 runs after electing to bowl first. In that game, Matt Henry’s 5-42 had helped them keep India to 249, but they were unable to chase it down. If Henry is unavailable due to shoulder issue, it weakens their fast-bowling line-up.
Barring Williamson’s valiant 81, none of the batters could stick for a long time to complete the chase. It also didn’t help that they were undone by mesmerising spin bowling of Varun Chakaravarthy, who also took 5-42. If a similar situation unfolds in the final, where Chakaravarthy shines yet again, then that will cause a batting meltdown of the Blackcaps.
Opportunity: With Williamson saying New Zealand will be more ready this time around for the Dubai conditions after a dominant 50-run win in the semi-final over South Africa, winning the title would mean a major silverware coming for them after emerging victorious over India in the inaugural edition of the competition in 2000.
Moreover, with many of their players like Williamson not taking up central contracts for playing opportunities in franchise T20 leagues, there has been a notion that international cricket talent is on the wane in New Zealand. A Champions Trophy win would quash all those queries for the good.
Threat: India have been an unstoppable force in the Champions Trophy – with the bat, ball and in fielding. The Rohit Sharma-led side will be buoyant by the fact that they haven’t lost a game in this competition in Dubai.
Moreover, with fans in attendance at the venue majorly supporting the Indian team in Dubai on Sunday, all of this makes for a big threat for New Zealand – if the Indian juggernaut continues on Sunday, it would be hard for Santner & Co to stop them from reaching championship glory.
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