Before a final, it's natural for teams to look for positive omens, something to boost the confidence of the players before they step onto the field to vie for the trophy.

For New Zealand, having India as opponents in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai today is the biggest positive omen of all as against them the Black Caps are undefeated in ICC event finals.

The Kiwis have so far won two major ICC tournaments – ICC Knockout Trophy, currently known as Champions Trophy, in 2000 in Kenya and the ICC Test Championship in 2021 in England. And in both of those finals, they battled against India.

New Zealand have also reached the final of four other ICC events – 2009 Champions Trophy, 2015 ICC World Cup, 2019 World Cup and 2021 ICC T20 World Cup – but they ended up on the losing side against different opponents in all of them.

Before attending the practice session, New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner attended the pre-match press conference yesterday where this reporter reminded him of their spotless record in finals against India and asked him if it would aid them psychologically in today's final.

"I mean, hopefully we will be the third time lucky," Santner answered The Daily Star reporter.

"I think India will be a challenge tomorrow [Sunday]. They have been playing some really good cricket. They understand these conditions very well but we also have been playing decently," he said, adding that they know what to expect from the Dubai surface after facing India here a few days ago in a group-stage match which they lost by 44 runs.

"Obviously, having a run against India here a few days ago helped us out in understanding the conditions a bit better. But it's a knockout game and whoever turns up on the day, could take the trophy.

"We know that it might be a different surface or it might play exactly the same. We need to be ready and adaptable for what's coming," he concluded.