The Star batter Shubman Gill has admitted the pressure on the Champions Trophy 2025 finals against New Zealand but also assured that the team will aim for the ultimate glory.
India’s vice-captain Shubman Gill has said that the team will be aiming to achieve the Champions Trophy title on Sunday. India faced a heartbreaking defeat in the finals of the ODI World Cup 2023 against Australia by six wickets on home soil.
Hence, they don’t have happy memories of an ICC ODI event final in recent times. Ahead of the big game against New Zealand, Shubman Gill has admitted that the pressure of the finals would be there on their mind.
However, he said, they will look to make amends for their loss in 2023. “It’s my second ICC event for team India and hence I’m definitely excited. We’ll try and achieve what we couldn’t do the last time. There is always big-match pressure.”
“But if you look at the last game, Australia didn’t have a lot of experienced bowlers. The match was big. In such matches, whoever handles pressure and doesn’t think a lot that they’re playing final, those teams win.”
“Look at the teams of the past like West Indies and Australia. They used to play well in knockout games as they would keep the occasion away from the game,” said Shubman Gill.
India’s last title in ODI games comes back from 2013 as they beat England to win the ICC Champions Trophy. Since then, Men in Blues have reached the knockout stages of the next four ODI events but haven’t been able to clinch the title.
The reached the semi finals of the ODI World Cup 2015 and 2019 and was the runners of the Champions Trophy 2017 and ODI World Cup 2023.
However, they went on to win 2024 T20 World Cup and will be looking to register their second successive ICC triumph as they take on New Zealand on March 09 at Dubai International Stadium.
