Follow UsIndian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate built up the clash between India and New Zealand in Dubai as a spin contest. Both teams have as many as nine spin bowling options in their squads combined, with seven of them almost sure to play on the slow surface in Dubai.
While India also have variety in their attack through Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wrist spin, New Zealand’s finger spinners, Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell in particular, have been superb on flat tracks of Pakistan.
Hence, it was a no-brainer for the coach ten Doeschate to call the group-toppers clash a contest of two good spin attacks.
"They [New Zealand] have [many] spinners as well, so it could be a contest of spin," he said, as quoted by PTI.
"Coming into the competition, we weren't expecting such an over-reliance on spin. But the guys have bowled nicely and the pitch has helped a little bit, so I'm sure it's going to be the same for the next game here."
The former Netherlands player said that the pitch is good to score 280-290 if the team bats well. However, he didn’t feel that the pitch in Dubai is a 300 plus surface like the ones seen in Pakistan.
"The pitch has played slightly differently, in my opinion, in those two games [against Bangladesh and Pakistan]. But they are probably like 280-290 pitches if you bat really well,” the former Netherlands batter with an ODI average of 67 in 32 innings said.
“So in the bigger picture, yeah, it's not like playing in Pakistan, where you expect to get 320-330. But you've got to adapt yourself and get a score that's good on these wickets. And we think it's right about 280-290, judging from the first two pitches."
The Dutchman indicated that the team needs to keep Rishabh Pant in rhythm, and there’s a probability that he might play the game against New Zealand for that purpose only.
“KL has been good. He didn't get many chances. [But] we've got to keep Rishabh up and running,” the assistant coach said.
“We never know when we're going to need him. But certainly to have two wicketkeepers of that calibre is a nice thing to have."
The coach further informed that Rohit Sharma is managing his hamstring injury well and there shouldn’t be any cause for concern going ahead.
“He's all right. It's an injury he's had before, so he knows how to manage it really well,” ten Doeschate said.
India will play New Zealand on March 2 and the first semifinal in Dubai on March 4, which they have already qualified for.