ICC Champions Trophy 2025: The battle between India’s spinners and Kane Williamson will be exciting on the challenging DICS pitch, and it could play a key role in deciding the Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025: The Spin Battle Between India’s Spin Bowlers vs Kane Williamson
New Zealand is eager to end their 25-year wait for an ICC 50-over title after winning the ICC Knockouts Trophy in Kenya in 2000, where they beat India by four wickets.
Meanwhile, India is aiming for their second Champions Trophy since 2013 and might field four spinners and two pacers in the final.
The final could be played on the same pitch used in the match against Pakistan, where spinners found some support. In this situation, Kane Williamson’s ability to adapt and his technical skills will be crucial for New Zealand. He showcased his expertise by scoring an impressive 81 in the final group match against India just a few days ago.
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Gary Stead’s Thoughts on Countering India’s Spinners In ICC Champions Trophy 2025
New Zealand coach Gary Stead believes India will likely adopt the four-spinner strategy in the final, calling it “challenging.” He said, “It’s probably what we expect for them to play against us, but we have four spinners as well within our squad and we think we’re pretty well balanced. But it’s always a challenge. They are very, very good spinners, all of them in their own right.”
“So, for us, it’s just being clear on our plans and working out if there could be a match-up that we are deciding within our team that it’s the right one for us to go after. So who knows, they (Indian spinners) might have an off-day as well and that could be in our advantage,” said Stead.
But Stead also understands that instead of hoping for an off-day from India’s strong spin attack, it’s better to take them on directly.
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“We have to adapt to what’s going on within the match, but all our batsmen will have their individual plans around how they want to combat them.”
This is especially true against Varun Chakravarthy, who has a wide range of variations—wrong’uns, leg-breaks, scrambled seam deliveries, and faster seam-up deliveries.
In fact, he dismissed Mitchell Santner with a 113 kmph seam-up delivery to break New Zealand’s resistance in the league match just a few days ago.
“Sometimes a little bit of bravery to take, I mean, those options are on, so we’re certainly up for that, up for that challenge and that’s what India will bring. We know that they’ve got four very capable spinners,” he added.
So, Stead will definitely have Kane Williamson as a key part of his plans to tackle India’s slow bowlers. The 34-year-old has an impressive career record against spinners in ODIs, scoring 2,952 runs at an average of 47, with a strike rate of 86.
“He’s a guy that rises for the big occasion and he’s done it many times for New Zealand in the past. Look, cricket’s a game runs aren’t guaranteed, but I know that Kane will be doing everything he can to prepare to score well and he’s one of those unique individuals around the world that has that ability to adapt to different pitches.”
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“He seems to be able to do that faster than many other players, so fingers crossed from our perspective that Kane has a big day,” said Stead.
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