The Males in Blue will look to win back-to-back ICC titles after they face the Black Caps in Dubai on Sunday.
India’s starvation for a world title stays undiminished, however there will likely be no desperation after they conflict with New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final, opener Shubman Gill says.
India ended a 13-year international title drought when they won the Twenty20 World Cup within the West Indies final 12 months beneath Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
Stopping that barren run, which included shedding the 2023 Cricket World Cup remaining on dwelling soil, has allowed them to play the large matches like Sunday’s remaining with out getting overwhelmed by the event, the 25-year-old Gill mentioned.
“Typically, when you get one title, that type of breaks the jinx,” he advised reporters on the Dubai Worldwide Cricket Stadium on the eve of the ultimate.
“It provides you the momentum. Additionally, you aren’t very determined about getting the title. It’s not good when desperation kicks in. Then, it turns into onerous to place the event out of the equation.
“In all these huge matches, the gamers or the groups that may put apart the strain and take the event out of the sport have a greater likelihood of profitable.
“Successful the title in 2024 doesn’t imply that we’re much less hungry, nevertheless it makes us extra balanced that, sure, we’ve received an ICC title, and we’ll attempt to do our greatest to win this one.
“It’s my second ICC occasion for workforce India and second remaining [along with the 2023 defeat]. The final time, which we couldn’t do, we’ll attempt to do it this time.”
India stay the event’s solely unbeaten workforce, having already defeated New Zealand in a group game in Dubai.
They’ve been boosted by stalwart Virat Kohli’s return to type and the firepower of their center order.
“That is the most effective batting lineup that I’ve been a part of,” Gill mentioned. “Rohit and Virat are all-time one-day greats. Rohit is without doubt one of the finest openers in white ball, and Virat is without doubt one of the finest ODI batsmen ever.
“The batting depth that we’ve has made life simpler for the top-order batsmen. These of us within the prime order play with a lot freedom due to our batting depth.”
The unrivaled legacy of Rohit Sharma in males’s ICC tournaments 👏🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/lPzS42FfbW
— ICC (@ICC) March 6, 2025
There was hypothesis that this might be the ultimate event for each Rohit and Kohli. The latter’s tremendous type together with an unbeaten 100 towards archrivals Pakistan in a bunch sport and hit 84 in one other profitable chase within the semifinal – has quelled a lot of the discuss surrounding his future.
Rohit, nonetheless, has been slammed for not changing his begins into larger scores however will lead the facet right into a fourth remaining at an ICC occasion – the primary to finish the clear sweep of appearances as a skipper in finals at main tournaments.
Gill, who opens with Rohit, mentioned India’s batting depth has allowed the top-order to bat freely.
Whereas the Indian media proceed to invest on Rohit’s retirement, Gill mentioned there was no speak about it within the dressing room.
“The dialogue has been across the remaining,” mentioned Gill. “I don’t suppose even Rohit is considering it an excessive amount of.”
