Varun a big threat in final, says NZ coach Stead

New Zealand coach Gary Stead conceded that Varun Chakravarthy will be a "big threat" in the Champions Trophy final, and the Kiwis will put on their "thinking caps" to work on ways to negate India's mystery spinner.

"We certainly expect him to play after getting 5/42 against us in the last game. He's a class bowler, and showed his skills against us last time and he's a big threat in the game," Stead said. "So we'll be putting our thinking caps on around how we nullify that and how we can still score runs against him," he added.

In that context, Stead said the Kiwis will look to take some cues from the Group A match they played against India a few days back here.

In fact, he refused to read too much into India's familiarity with the conditions.

"The decision around that (schedule) out of our hands, so it's not something we worry about too much. India have got to play all their games here in Dubai, but we have had a game here and we'll learn very quickly from that experience. So when you come to this stage of the tournament, I mean, we've had eight teams at the start, we're down to two now. It's always exciting to be in this situation and from our perspective, it just comes to a one-off game now and if we're good enough to beat India on Sunday, then I will be happy," he said.

Kiwi pacer Henry doubtful for final

New Zealand pacer Matt Henry is doubtful for the final owing to a shoulder issue but coach Gary Stead is hopeful that the in-form bowler will recover in time for the clash on Sunday. Henry leads the tournament's top wicket-takers' list with 10 scalps, including a 5/42 against India in their group match. The 33-year-old injured himself when he landed on his shoulder during the semifinal against South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday. "Matt landed on his shoulder and it was pretty uncomfortable. I guess the positive thing is that he got back out there to bowl. We've had some scans done on him," Stead said. "We're going to give him every chance to be playing in this match, so still a little bit unknown at this stage. He's obviously pretty sore just from landing on the point of his shoulder, but hopefully he will be okay," he added.