India's record against New Zealand in ICC knockouts

India will take on New Zealand in the final of the Champions Trophy after the Kiwis dished out a run-fest in Lahore to get past South Africa. This will be the third time India and New Zealand will be locking horns in an ICC final, and overall on fifth occasion in a knockout of an ICC event

The first time India locked horns with New Zealand in an ICC knockout, it was the final of the second edition of the Champions Trophy, the Knockouts as it was called in 2000 and the Black Caps won their first-ever title

Sourav Ganguly smashed a century and Sachin Tendulkar played a very good hand of 69 but the middle order failed to contribute big for India and New Zealand riding on Chris Cairns' unbeaten century chased down 265 to break the title drought

21 years later, India and New Zealand met in another final, the World Test Championship and yet again the Kiwis proved to be too good at Southampton to overcome the challenge of Indian bowlers despite two days of play getting washed out

The other two occasions on which India and New Zealand faced each other in the ICC knockouts were the semi-finals in back-to-back ODI World Cups in 2019 and 2023

Despite Ravindra Jadeja's 77 off just 59 balls, losing 3/5 at the start of the innings came to haunt India as they failed to chase down 240 and fell 18 runs short of it with New Zealand advancing to the final of 2019 World Cup

Four years later, however, things took a turn. It was Mumbai, in front of the God of cricket, on home soil, India finally turned the tables against New Zealand in an ICC knockout in the World Cup 2023 semi-final

After Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli's record centuries, it seemed India had done enough but New Zealand is one team which doesn't give up that easily as Daryl Mitchell smashed a century but Mohammed Shami came to the party with a 7-wicket haul to blow away the Kiwis for India to get to the final