Spin, swing & sixes: Can Kiwis clip India’s wings or will the Men in Blue soar?

India have never lost a OneDay International at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium New Zealand have never lost a final to India in ICC competitions One of these will change on Sunday night when the teams face off to be crowned the next Champions Trophy winnersNine wins in DubaiIndiarsquos record at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium DICS is nearflawless they have won nine ODIs and tied a tenth against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in 2018 All nine victories have come under Rohit Sharma mdash five in the said Asia Cup which then regular skipper Virat Kohli sat the tournament out ndash while Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood in for the standin captain against the AfghansIndia players during a practice session on the eve of the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai on Saturday PicPTIIf that is music to the ears of millions of Indian fans it comes with a rider Both of New Zealandrsquos victories in ICC finals have come at the expense of India mdash at the ICC KnockOut Trophy as the Champions Trophy was then known in 2000 in Nairobi and the World Test Championship in Southampton in 2021 So what are we looking at mdash repeat or revengeIndia have been an unstoppable force since they began their campaign against Bangladesh gathering momentum with each passing game Their four wins have come with a measure of comfort but they havenrsquot been a walk in the park They have been forced to dig deep to bat out of character to adjust and adapt to the slower less strokeencouraging tracks Without forsaking their mantra of positivity and intent they have tailored their gameplans to the demands of the situation and eked out performances from almost every one of the 12 players they have used across four matchesNew Zealandrsquos Rachin Ravindra left and skipper Mitchell Santner during a training session at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Saturday PicGetty ImagesIndia on top of their gameIt has helped that theyrsquove played entirely in Dubai the privilege of playing at one venue not accorded to any of the other seven who originally started this competition This is not to suggest that thatrsquos the sole reason for Indiarsquos place in the final their cricket has been out of the top drawer except for their catching But the advantages of not having to pack their bags and travel hither and thither like New Zealand have done thrice in the last 10 days canrsquot be exaggeratedNew Zealand came into the tournament with the confidence of having won a triseries in Pakistan last month and have played like a champion side except when they ran into a tartar in India in the group match between the teams here They have gorged themselves on batterfriendly conditions in Pakistan where Rachin Ravindra has been unstoppable but in Dubai they were found out by Indiarsquos fourpronged spin attack helmed expertly by Varun Chakravarthy the least experienced of the quartet Itrsquos how well their middleorder under the stabilising hand of Kane Williamson negotiates the spin threat that will determine how the final plays outA spin battleThe Kiwis themselves have four spinners with skipper Mitchell Santner as their most experienced and accomplished They will have taken note of how the Indian batters went about their business last Sunday when Rohit Sharmarsquos men came through by 44 runs On the same track where India defeated Pakistan by six wickets two weeks back they will try to use some of that knowledge to good effect though in potentially their last ICC finals together Rohit and the backinform Virat Kohli will entertain other ideas2000New Zealand beat India in the ICC Knockout Trophy final in Nairobi Kenya2021New Zealand beat India in the ICC World Test Championship final in Southampton UK