The final of the Champions Trophy between India and New Zealand is set to take place at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Ahead of the mega clash, however, one issue that is dominating the narrative at the moment is the nature of the Dubai pitch and how it favours India.

New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner has also given his take on the Dubai pitch saying that it is a little bit of how they want to operate.

Speaking at his arrival in Dubai, Santner said, “They’ve played all their games here in Dubai and know that surface. Obviously, the surface will dictate a little bit of how we want to operate. It might be a little bit slower than what we got in Lahore. It might be more of a scrap, but we’re down to scrap,”

“We’ve come against a good side. I think we’ll be better for the run we had the other day against them. We’ve had a bit of a roll on. Hopefully, it continues,” the Kiwi skipper added.

India and New Zealand have been fierce rivals in recent ICC tournaments, with the Kiwis beating the Men in Blue in the final of the 2021 WTC Final. In this edition of Champions Trophy, India defeated Kiwis by 44 runs in the league stage.

Do India have an advantage in Dubai?

Notably, while Pakistan are the official hosts of the Champions Trophy 2025, India refused to travel to the neighbouring country due to security concerns, leading to a hybrid solution where all of India’s matches will be played in Dubai.

However, this gives the Men in Blue a distinct advantage as all their matches are played at the same venue while other teams travel and come to Dubai to play their matches, according to some former cricketers.

The conditions are also said to be in India’s favour as its players have got used to the surface and have settled on a playing XI of four spinners.