India’s chance to up their game against spin
Dubai: At the start of the Champions Trophy, Dubai was being seen as a spin paradise where Indian spinners would run through opposition batting line-ups, or, at the very least, stifle run-scoring. But on evidence of the two matches India have played here, things have not been that straightforward.
India have played the unchanged trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in both their matches so far. They went wicketless against Bangladesh all through the middle overs. Even against Pakistan, the three wickets that Yadav got came after the 40 overs phase, when the batters were under pressure to raise the scoring rate.
India’s spin-heavy squad composition for the tournament came expecting the spinners to be the primary wicket-takers in the middle overs. This is one area where Mohammed Siraj was found short in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Hardik Pandya’s return has allowed them to play the extra spinner in place of the fast bowler. It is Hardik, in fact, who has been the pick of the bowlers in the middle phase.
Indian spinners’ collective haul (7 wickets, Avg 35.9, SR 46.4) tames in comparison to their pacers (11 wickets, Avg 17.5, SR 24.7). Despite one of the pacers Harshit Rana, being short on experience, it’s the fast bowlers who have been more economical than the tweakers.
India faces their stiffest test yet in the tournament on Sunday in the form of New Zealand. The Kiwis come to Dubai with two specialist spinners – Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell. Glenn Phillips, India knows from the Test series, can roll his arm over very effectively. Washington Sundar did a lot of bowling in the nets on Friday for India’s right-hand heavy batting order to get accustomed to facing New Zealand’s twin off-spinners.
It’s not a knockout fixture as most Champions Trophy matches usually are, but this match will decide India’s semi-final opponents. The decision to test the bench or give the injury returnees Kuldeep and Mohammed Shami more game time will be a key call. Despite the team being well rested, India is more concerned with the lack of turnaround time between Sunday’s fixture and their semi-final, slated for next Tuesday.
“It’s how you back the two games. If we bowl second, for Shami bowling ten overs and to possibly do it again in 36 hours could mean a lot of workload,” India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said. “I am alluding to not bowling the full quota of overs if the opportunity allows itself and Rohit will have to manage that on the field to keep the guys fresh for the semi-finals.”
With New Zealand having three possible top-order left-hand options in Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham and another southpaw in Santner, would they consider Washington as a match-up? There’s also Varun Chakravarthy waiting with his mystery spin, but he can only come in if Yadav is given a breather.
Unlike Bangladesh and Pakistan, New Zealand batters are top players of spin. Daryl Mitchell is back from his illness and smacked many a ball out of the academy ground during his net session on Friday.
India’s batters would also want to perform better against spin. All batters starting with Rohit Sharma’s intent at the top have scored heavily against pace (SR 102). The scoring rate drops down to 65.8 while facing spin. Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill have got runs, but they have preferred to take time. Shreyas Iyer has been the most fluent. The middle-order batter has registered as many dot balls, but has made up with a high percentage of boundaries, coming from willingness to expand his scoring range.
Setting the right tempo may be the key.
“We’ve all got a little bit of time in the middle. And we’re trying to find ways to see how we can rotate the strike a lot more,” KL Rahul told reporters. “Hitting boundaries on this wicket is very difficult. We have to make sure that the dot ball percentage is really less and then the risk that you take, the opportunities that you are going to take is suited for this type of wicket and against a certain bowler. See how we can move the fifth fielder around and that gives us opportunity to rotate the strike.”
In what is a short crisp tournament, the sample size is small. The batters may have chosen to tactically play out opposition’s leading spinners – Bangladesh’s Rishad Hossein and Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed. But by playing on the same tired surfaces again and again, Indian batters would get a hang of the conditions and that should, in theory, be an advantage.
Rohit hits the nets
Rohit brushed off concerns around his fitness by having a long net in Friday’s net session. The Indian captain is nursing a hamstring niggle but Ryan confirmed, he knows to manage it and that he would play.
