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As India takes on New Zealand in their final league stage match of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, a crucial aspect of this contest worth keeping an eye on will be how both teams will function in the middle overs with both bat and ball.
With a place in the semifinals already set, two major ICC event rivals will be meeting for a dead rubber clash at the Dubai International Stadium, which will decide their semifinal opponents. Having treated fans to thrilling and energetic encounters before, it is time that Men in Blue and Kiwis write another memorable chapter in their rivalry, which has played out with great intensity in ICC events. During the course of Champions Trophy 2025, both teams have been exceptional with both bat and ball during the middle overs (overs 11-40) and have perfected the ODI template in an age where many once-giants like England, Pakistan and West Indies have lost their touch with the art and tempo of ODI cricket with more T20 international and league fixtures seeping into their calendars. India, coming to Dubai, chose an attack perfectly suited for middle overs, with five spinners in all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and specialists Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav. One of their frontline pacers, Harshit Rana, though inexperienced, has delivered wickets for his team in middle overs and can bowl well with an older ball. In form of accumulators like Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, India also has three rock-solid batters who have perfected the art of batting in middle overs with impeccable strike rotation and calculated risk taking. In the Champions Trophy so far, India has been exceptional in the middle overs. Against Bangladesh, they went wicketless in the middle overs, but gave away just 126 runs as the pair of Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali attempted a rebuilding after their side was reduced to 39/5 in first 10 overs of the powerplay. In death overs (41-50), Bangladesh lost their other half of batting and scored just 63 runs, succumbing to the pressure of scoring quickly, as per Wisden. Same story was repeating during the match against Pakistan. While India was slightly expensive in the powerplay, having conceded 52 runs, they snapped back into the game with two quick wickets and this put pressure on skipper Mohammed Rizwan and Saud Shakeel to build a platform for a perfect finish. The result was a sluggish 131 runs and three wickets lost during the middle overs. Pakistan built a lot of pressure on themselves to score quickly during the back end of their innings from overs 41-50 and lost their last five wickets for just 58 runs. In both the situations, Indian spin's ability to squeeze runs in middle overs turned to be instrumental in building pressure on the opposition, which forced them to take risks, hit some loose shots in process and gift Men in Blue their wicket. Meanwhile New Zealand has been way better than India's opponents in the middle overs, though on more batting friendly wickets of Pakistan, where the ball comes really nice on the bat and connects well. Against Pakistan and Bangladesh, after losing two wickets each for 48 and 54 runs, respectively, during the first 10 overs, NZ responded well in the middle-overs phase, scoring 159/2 and 154/2, respectively, against both sides in overs 11-40. This was enough to help them cross the 200-run mark as well really quickly, in 39.2 overs and 38 overs, respectively. For Kiwis, this meant they had an edge heading into the death overs, scoring a massive 113 at loss of one wicket in the final phase against Pakistan, skyrocketing themselves to a competitive total of 320 runs. Against Bangladesh, they scored 32 at loss of one wicket in during overs 41-50, chasing down the total of 237 runs with 23 balls left. While NZ will be tested on more bowler friendly and slow Dubai surfaces, their fine performances in the middle overs is undeniable. Also, they have a historical edge against India's two premier spinners, Jadeja and Kuldeep, in middle overs since 2020, having scored 288 runs and conceded just three wickets against them. The data involves their four current frontline batters, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, against Jadeja-Kuldeep. While batters like Tom and Kane have shown respect to their bowling and played with a more cautious approach, Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra have been more attacking. Mitchell has looted 60 runs against Jadeja in 11.2 overs without giving away his wicket, while Kuldeep has conceded 77 runs in 10.4 overs against Mitchell, dismissing him once. Rachin has scored 28 runs in 4.5 overs against Jadeja, while he has been more risk-taking against Kuldeep, scoring 41 runs in 5.1 overs against him and getting dismissed just once. Squads: India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh New Zealand Squad: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O'Rourke, Daryl Mitchell, Nathan Smith, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy. (ANI)
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