Sunil Gavaskar points to India's areas of concern ahead of IND vs NZ Champions Trophy 2025 final

Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar believes the Men in Blue have several areas they could improve in despite reaching the 2025 Champions Trophy final. Rohit Sharma's men will take on New Zealand in the summit clash in Dubai on Sunday, March 9.

India have rampaged through the tournament thus far, winning all four games convincingly. Yet, skipper Rohit Sharma is still to find his best form, with a highest score of only 41 in four outings.

While the four-pronged spin attack has worked wonders for them in the last two matches, the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra are averaging upwards of 30 with the ball in the competition.

Looking ahead to the final in a conversation with India Today, Gavaskar pointed to the above-mentioned areas, among others, saying:

"They haven't because when you look at the openers, they haven't really given the Indian team the kind of start that they had hoped for. That has not happened. So, clearly, I think there's a shortcoming over there. Even with the new ball, you might want to take wicket in the first 10 overs. You definitely want to take about 2 or 3 wickets. That's also not quite been happening."

He continued:

"In the middle overs, we have not got wickets, even though the runs have not been flowing. So those are areas that you get better in those areas, the better the chances of going on and winning the final."

Despite the potential shortcomings, India hold a slight upper hand in the final over New Zealand, having beaten them in the final Group A clash by 44 runs at the same venue (Dubai).

"Why change now?" - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar backed India to go with an unchanged playing XI for the 2025 Champions Trophy final against New Zealand. India played their first two games with an attack including three specialist spinners, two frontline pacers and all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

However, with the surface at Dubai favoring spin, the management replaced Harshit Rana with the in-form Varun Chakaravarthy for the last two encounters, making it a four-pronged spin attack.

"I think it is going to be 4 spinners. It has to be. Why change now? It's shown Chakravarthy's inclusion, Kuldeep's inclusion has shown how effective they can be. And also, wicket-taking balls are the best dot balls in limited-overs cricket or any format of the game. So they've been doing that, so there should be no change at all," said Gavaskar.

Varun has delivered the goods in both games, taking seven wickets at an average of 13 and an economy of 4.55. In the semifinal against Australia, he removed India's nemesis Travis Head on 39 at a crucial stage in the game.

Varun's 5/42 in 10 overs against the Kiwis also helped India pull off a 44-run win and finish atop Group A.