DUBAI: India are heavy favourites to claim a record third Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday but Rohit Sharma`s men face a New Zealand side with plenty of firepower in the first major white-ball final between the teams in a quarter of a century.

India, who refused to play in host nation Pakistan, have produced clinical performances to win all four of their matches in the United Arab Emirates, including a 44-run group-stage victory over the Black Caps last weekend although both teams had already reached the semi-finals by then.

The 2002 and 2013 champions have excelled on pitches offering turn, while the batting group ledby Virat Kohli has excelled under pressure with masterful runchases in victories over Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australia.

India are on the verge of winning bacl(-to-bacl< International Cricket Council trophies following last year`s Twenty20 World Cup triumph but they have always found the resilient Kiwis a tall mountain to surmount.

New Zealand hold a 10-6 lead over their Asian rivals across all the ICC tournaments and if curated further, they have a 3-1 edge over India in the knockout matches.

And despite their flawless displays in D ubai, India will not take anything for granted against New Zealand, who beat them by four wickets in the final of the 2000 event when it was named the ICC KnockOut Trophy.

`If there`s one team that can beat India, it`s New Zealand,` former India head coach Ravi Shastri said in `The ICC Review`.

`So India start as favourites but only just.

India, however, might still entertain a greater sense of comfort going into the title match, courtesy a spin quartet that showed enough nous to exploit a sluggish Dubai International Cricket Stadium deck.

In all probability, India will retain the four spinners and two pacers combination for the championship match.

Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, the right-hand and left-hand wrist-spinners, have bamboozled the opponents with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel tying down the batters in a matrix of accuracy and boredom.

New Zealand`s biggest hopes of countering them will be Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra, the most competent batters against slow bowlers in their line-up.

They head into the match having thumped South Africa in the semi-final after registering the highest Champions Trophy total of 362-6, with Ravindra and Williamson in fine fettle after scoring centuries.

The Wellington-born R avindra, who has amassed 226 from threematches after he returned from a nasty hit to his forehead in a triseries match in Pakistan, is of Indian origin with his parents hailing from Bengaluru.

New Zealand`s capable spin unit comprising captain Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Phillips and Ravindra can cause plenty of problems for India, who will aim to move ahead of Australia in the Champions Trophy winners list. Australia won the event in 2006 and 2009.

The final could be a last hurrah for veteran Indian stars Kohli and Sharma.

The 36-year-old Kohli and skipper Sharma, 37, came into the 50-over tournament with speculation over when they will retire following lean patches in Test cricket.

Mainstays of a formidable India side for more than 15 years, the duo retired from T20 internationals after winning the World Cup last year.

This weekend could be the end for them in ODIs, with the next 50-over World Cup not until 2027.

`I am sure Rohit will lead India to a title. He will have another ICC trophy soon,` former seam bowler Praveen Kumar told The Times of India. `I will only say that Virat and Rohit, give us one more ICC trophy before you retire.

While India`s clashes against Pakistan, Australia and England have attracted more attention, this matchup with the Black Caps has slowly been bubbling under the surface.

The 2024-25 season saw this new-age rivalry come to a proper flash point.

New Zealand beat India 3-0 in a Test series in their own backyard, a feat never registered before.

India went on to lose in Australia.

Both series defeats cost India a spot in the World Test Championship final.

Nearly 25 years ago, Chris Cairns` well-timed century in Nairobi powered New Zealand past India to win the Knock Out Trophy, which remains the only limited-overs ICC trophy in New Zealand`s cabinet.

The Black Caps did add another in 2021 beating India in the World Test Championship final at Southampton. In between, India were stopped in their tracks at the semi-final stage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, losing a twoday rain-affected semifinal to New Zealand at Manchester.

There have been a handful of other vital clashes between the two sides in 2021, New Zealand knocked India out of the T20 World Cup. In 2023, India returned the favour beating New Zealand in the semi-final at Mumbai, denying them a third straight final appearance in the Cricket World Cup.

Teams (from): INDIA: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KI, Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel Washington Sundar. Kuldeep Yaday, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

Rav indra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

NEW ZEALAND: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, l.ockic I:crguson, Matt Henry, Tom 1.atham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O`Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will You ng, Jacob Duffy.