'They Will Not Bottle It': England Great Rings Warning Bells For Team India Ahead Of Champions Trophy 2025 Semifinal

India will have a tough task to cut out as they are slated to face New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025 final on March 9. The Men In Blue are on a four-match winning run in the Champions Trophy and have shown a pretty dominating display so far.

India's record in ICC finals against New Zealand has been very poor and the onus will be on Rohit Sharma Co. to tilt the results in their favour. The Kiwis recently got the better of India in the 2021 World Test Championship final while in the 2000 Champions Trophy final India also had to concede a defeat.

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Nasser Hussain Issues A Warning To Team India

Nasser Hussain fired a warning to the Indian team ahead of the Champions Trophy semifinal. In an interaction with Sky Sports the former England captain said, “They will not bottle it, they won't choke. We were having dinner with [former Australia captain] Aaron Finch and he summed it up pretty well in saying New Zealand are never a side that beat themselves. And by that, he means that they will rock up and they will put in a performance.”

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England Legend Highlights New Zealand's Strength

Naseer further pointed out that this New Zealand side has some very tough cricketer, which is a central reason behind their recent on-field success.

“All the way through the New Zealand lineup they have some very, very tough cricketers who turn up to every single game and give it their absolute best - that's why they will always be there around semi-finals and finals. They also have that great mixture between senior pros that have been there year in, year out - like Kane Williamson, one of the all-time greats - and youth in the likes of Rachin Ravindra. They may well lose [New Zealand], but if they do, it will be because India beat them.”

In the recent past, New Zealand defeated India in the 2019 Cricket World Cup semifinal while India avenged that defeat with a brilliant win in the 2023 ODI World Cup on their home soil.