India faces New Zealand in budding rivalry at Champions Trophy final

India faces New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final Sunday in what can be deemed a new-age rivalry.

While India’s clashes against Pakistan, Australia and England have attracted more attention, this matchup with the Black Caps has slowly been bubbling under the surface.

The 2024-25 season saw this new-age rivalry come to a proper flash point.

New Zealand beat India 3-0 in a test series in its own backyard, a feat never registered before. India went on to lose in Australia. Both series defeats cost India a spot in the World Test Championship final. It has only gained little redemption in reaching the Champions Trophy final here.

Last fall's test series is vital on another account. Mitchell Santner led New Zealand’s bowling attack with sizzling performances in Pune and Mumbai, as India got stumped against spin at home.

Santner is now the Black Caps’ ODI skipper and has led them to the final — where spin is again expected to hold the key.

The square at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium has progressively slowed down. Australia’s 264 in the first semifinal was the highest first innings’ total here in the Champions Trophy — chased down by India with 11 balls to spare.

When India and New Zealand clashed here in their group game last Sunday, the ball hardly bounced up more than the knee in the second innings. Spin, thus, will play a key role in determining the outcome of this final.

Rohit Sharma started the tournament with three spinners and brought in Varun Chakravarthy with Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the only pace options. It has worked well — Chakravarthy took seven wickets in two games; Indian spinners have picked 14 out of 20 wickets against New Zealand and Australia enroute to the final.

With spin taking precedence on a two-paced surface, certain batters from both sides will hold the spotlight. Virat Kohli (217 runs in four matches) and Kane Williamson (189 runs in four matches) will anchor their sides with strike rotation. Rachin Ravindra (226 runs in three matches) and Shreyas Iyer (195 runs in four matches) have higher strike rates, and their aggression will be key in setting up the innings.

“It could be a 300-run wicket or a 250-one,” Santner said on Saturday. “We have to go in with an open mind and adjust accordingly. There will be periods of sustained pressure on both sides.”

India did not travel to host country Pakistan for security reasons and played all its group games, the semifinal and now the final too, in Dubai. Pakistan and the ICC didn’t think it best to split India’s games across other venues in the UAE for financial reasons.

Opinion is varied, even within India’s dressing room, if that's given India an advantage.

“What undue advantage?” asked coach Gautam Gambhir after the semifinal victory over Australia. “We haven’t practiced here even for a day. We have practiced at the ICC Academy (in Dubai). Some people are just perpetual cribbers — they need to grow up.”

Shami, India’s lead pacer with eight wickets in four games, differed: “It definitely helped us because we know the conditions and behavior of the pitch."

New Zealand, for its part, dominated the Pakistan leg of the Champions Trophy. It knocked out Pakistan and Bangladesh in the group games, and despite tiring journeys to-and-from Dubai, had enough gas in the tank to pummel South Africa in the Lahore semifinal.

“The weather has been a little shock — it jumped up 10 degrees in the last couple days," Santner said. “We will get a run tonight and it will set us up for tomorrow.”

Nearly 25 years ago, Chris Cairns’ well-timed century in Nairobi powered New Zealand past India to win the ICC Knock Out Trophy, which later was renamed the Champions Trophy.

It remains the only limited-overs ICC trophy in New Zealand’s cabinet. The Black Caps did add another in 2021 — beating India in the World Test Championship final at Southampton. In between, the Men in Blue were stopped in their tracks at the semifinal stage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, losing a two-day rain-affected semifinal to New Zealand at Manchester.

There have been a handful of other vital clashes between the two sides — in 2021, New Zealand knocked India out of the T20 World Cup. In 2023, India returned the favor — beating New Zealand in the semifinal at Mumbai, denying them a third straight final appearance in the Cricket World Cup.

India last won the Champions Trophy in 2013 — star players Rohit Sharma and Kohli were part of that winning group. Could it be a potential final ODI outing for the stars, if they manage to overturn the 2023 disappointment of losing to Australia in the final?

“There is no talk about retirement in the dressing room, now,” vice-captain Shubman Gill said. “Last time we could not win the 2023 World Cup. We are determined to win this time.”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

India's Shreyas Iyer plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Christopher Pike)

India's Shreyas Iyer plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's Virat Kohli plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's Virat Kohli and India's Shreyas Iyer run between the wickets to score during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's Axar Patel plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Christopher Pike)

New Zealand's captain Mitchel Santner, right, celebrates the dismissal of South Africa's captain Temba Bavuma, left, during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between New Zealand and South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

New Zealand's captain Mitchel Santner bowls a delivery during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between New Zealand and South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M Chaudary)

New Zealand's Kane Williamson celebrates after scoring a century during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between New Zealand and South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

India's Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring fifty runs with India's Shreyas Iyer during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Christopher Pike)

India's Virat Kohli plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University announced Monday that it has filed suit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.

In an April 11 letter to Harvard, the Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university and changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs. The administration has argued universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.

“The Government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” said the lawsuit, filed in Boston federal court.

“Nor has the Government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in federal research funding will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation and progress,” it added.

Harvard's suit called the funding freeze “arbitrary and capricious,” saying it violated its First Amendment rights and the statutory provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Within hours, the White House lashed back.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end," White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in an email Monday. "Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. A part of that is targeting research funding which has fueled scientific breakthroughs but has become an easy source of leverage for the Trump administration.

In its letter earlier this month, the administration told Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are “hostile to the American values.”

It also called for broad leadership reforms at the university, admissions policy changes and the end of college recognition for some student clubs. The government also demanded Harvard audit its faculty and student body to ensure wide viewpoints in every department and, if necessary, diversify by admitting additional students and hiring new faculty.

Last Monday, Harvard said it would not comply, citing the First Amendment. The following day, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, questioning whether the university should lose its tax-exempt status “if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’”

The lawsuit follows one filed earlier this month by the American Association of University Professors demanding a federal judge declare unlawful and put aside a pending review and investigation of Harvard’s funding.

The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.

“Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world,” Garber wrote Monday to the Harvard community.

“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion," he added.

Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni who has encouraged Harvard to take a tougher stand against the administration, praised the filing of the lawsuit.

“The Trump administration continues its reckless and unlawful attack for power and control over Harvard, slashing billions in funding for scientific research and innovation that improves and saves lives,” she said. “Today, Harvard once again refused to accede to the administration’s dangerous and escalating demands.”

The American Council on Education, a nonprofit with more than 1,600 member colleges and universities, applauded Harvard.

“It has been clear for weeks that the administration’s actions violated due process and the rule of law. We applaud Harvard for taking this step and look forward to a clear and unambiguous statement by the court rebuking efforts to undermine scholarship and science,” said Ted Mitchell, the council's president.

Gecker reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo)

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo)