IND vs NZ Champions Trophy Final: Rohit Sharma equals Brian Lara’s unwanted record; What happened before match?

IND vs NZ Champions Trophy Final: The much-awaited ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final between India and New Zealand is already underway in Dubai. In some bad fortune, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma suffered yet another setback—losing the toss again. New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and decided to bat first, hoping to set a fighting score against the Men in Blue.

This toss loss has now made Rohit Sharma break an unwanted record of losing 12 straight tosses in ODIs. It is as good as the West Indies legend Brian Lara's record, while the Netherlands captain Peter Borren comes second with 11 straight toss losses. And with it, Team India have also lost 15 straight tosses, fuelling their disappointment.

Santner confident after winning toss

Speaking after the coin toss, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner was positive with his decision. "We always prefer to bat first. The pitch is looking really good, and we played a game here against India a week ago. We just want to get a good score and play from there. The crowd is electric and we can see a sea of blue shirts around us," said Santner.

He also confirmed a replacement in New Zealand's playing XI, as Nathan Smith took the place of injured Matt Henry.

Reaction of Rohit Sharma to losing the toss

In spite of the disappointment, Rohit Sharma was unperturbed and went ahead to share a smile after losing the toss. He further said, "We have no complaints chasing a total. We are used to batting second and we have done it successfully in the past. We discussed this in the dressing room and did not worry about the toss but just concentrated on our game."

With so much at stake and pages of history to be written, the final match is going to be a nail-biting encounter between two cricketing behemoths.