Gill vows to rectify World Cup loss in CT final
What's the story
Shubman Gill has said that the Indian cricket team will look to do what it couldn't in their last ICC ODI event final as they take on New Zealand in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on March 9 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
This comes after India's six-wicket defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup 2023 final on home soil.
Here's what Gill said.
Pre-match insights
Gill acknowledges pressure of final
Ahead of the all-important clash against New Zealand, Gill admitted the pressure of playing in a final.
"It's my second ICC event for team India and hence I'm definitely excited. We'll try and achieve what we couldn't do the last time. There is always big-match pressure."
Focus on performance
Gill's strategy for handling match pressure
Gill revealed how he deals with the pressure of high-stakes matches like finals.
He said in such games, the team that handles pressure and doesn't think a lot about the fact that they are playing a final usually wins.
He gave examples from cricket history, mentioning how teams like West Indies and Australia performed well in knockout games by keeping the occasion away from their performance.
Title history
India's ICC title drought and recent success
India's last ODI title win came way back in 2013 when they beat England to win the Champions Trophy.
Since then, they've made it to the knockout stages of four ODI events but haven't won another title.
Their journey includes semi-final appearances in the ODI World Cup 2015 and 2019, and finals in the Champions Trophy 2017 and World Cup 2023.
H2H
A look at the head-to-head record of India and NZ
As per ESPNcricinfo, the two teams have played 119 ODIs between them, and India have an edge here. The Men in Blue have won 61 matches in comparison to NZ's 50 victories (Tie: 1, NR: 7).
Before the ongoing tourney, the two teams met only once in the Champions Trophy - during the final of the 2000 edition, where New Zealand triumphed over India.
Meanwhile, India beat NZ by 44 runs in the league stage of the ongoing tourney.