DUBAI: India skipper Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami are fit and raring to go against New Zealand in the final group match of the Champions Trophy, the team said on Friday.

India and New Zealand booked their semi-final spots early in the 50-over tournament and will clash on Sunday in Dubai, with the winner topping Group ‘A’.

In India’s previous win over arch-rivals Pakistan, Rohit and pace spearhead Shami left the field for a short period, briefly raising doubts about the fitness of the two players.

“There’s no real concerns about anyone missing games as far as I know,” wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul told reporters.

Rahul said all the players have been to the gym and training and even if there were some niggles, there was nothing serious.

Shami, 34, recently returned to international cricket from a long injury-lay off and claimed figures of 5-53 in India’s opening win over Bangladesh.

But against Pakistan he seemed to have some trouble with his ankle as he went off for some treatment only to return later and bowl, much to India’s relief.

Rohit also left the ground with his deputy Shubman Gill leading the team briefly and TV commentators suggested the captain was troubled by a hamstring strain.

Rohit returned and also batted in his usual opening slot to hand India a quick start in his 15-ball 20.

Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate dismissed any concerns about Rohit’s fitness as the team went about their training drills in the final session ahead of the New Zealand clash.

“He’s all right. You can see he’s batting, he did a little bit of fielding earlier,” ten Doeschate said. “It’s an injury he’s had before, so he knows how to manage it really well. And he’s on top of it.”

Shami has been India’s go-to bowler in the absence of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, who failed to recover from a back injury and missed the eight-nation tournament.

India will come into the next match after a six-day game break since they last played Pakistan.

But there will be only a day’s recovery between the last group match and the semi-final on Tuesday in Dubai, raising further concerns about the workload management of fast bowlers.

“I don’t think rest is an issue. It’s how you back the two games. If we bowl second, for Shami bowling ten overs and to possibly do it again in 36 hours could mean a lot of workload,” said ten Doeschate, a former all-rounder for the Netherlands.

He said Shami might not bowl the full quota of overs if the opportunity presented itself.

“Rohit will have to manage that on the field to keep the guys fresh for the first semi-finals,” he said.

The pitch in Dubai, where India are playing all their matches in this tournament after refusing to tour Pakistan for political reasons, has been sluggish with spinners playing a part.

India’s Kuldeep Yadav claimed three wickets in the win over Pakistan.

New Zealand’s spin force has also shone and in their previous win over Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, off-spinner Michael Bracewell returned figures of 4-26.

Ten Doeschate said the Sunday clash could turn out to be a battle of spinners.

“Yeah, I think so. And they’ll have four spinners as well. So it could be a contest of spin,” said ten Doeschate.

“I think coming into the competition, we weren’t expecting such an over-reliance in spin, but the guys have bowled nicely and the pitch has helped a little bit.”

The Black Caps hold a clear advantage over India with nine wins, five losses and one no-result at global white-ball tournaments.

“I think we don’t like to put too much pressure on ourselves,” Bracewell told reporters. “Obviously coming off a great Test series win, it gives us a lot of confidence that we can and we’ve got a really good record against India in ICC events.

“I think we like to take a game and not try and let the moment get to us. It’s worked well for us in the past. We just try and play our style of cricket and our brand of cricket and it seems to be a good match-up so far.”

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2025