Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has set the CT final on fire with batting bleisterkreig.

Indian skipper scored a fluent and crucial fifty (his 58th overall in ODIs) laced with seven boundaries boundaries and 3 sixes.

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Shubman Gill, on the other hand, was ably supporting his skipper until he got dismissed, playing a rather meek innings and second fiddle to Rohit.

One of the standout moments of his innings so far was when he welcomed Nathan Smith with a mammoth 93m six.

India has so far been unbothered by the New Zealand bowling attack, with Gill and Rohit batting comfortably, setting up a perfect opening partnership as India looks set for its third ICC Champions Trophy title.

Earlier, New Zealand had won the toss and opted to bat first.

Kiwis got off to a fine start with a 57-run stand between Will Young (15) and Rachin Ravindra (37 in 29 balls, with four boundaries and a six). However, Kuldeep Yadav (2/40) applied some breaks and reduced NZ to 75/3.

A 57-run stand between Daryl Mitchell (63 in 101 balls, with three fours) and Michael Bracewell pushed Kiwis towards 150-plus runs. Bracewell played a fine hand of 53* in 40 balls, with three fours and two sixes, taking NZ to 251/7 in their 50 overs.

Kuldeep (2/40) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/45) were the top wicket-takers for India. Mohammed Shami also took a wicket, but conceded 74 runs in his nine overs. (With inputs from Agencies)