For two weeks now, Indian cricketers have woken up from the same hotel rooms, travelled on the team bus on the by-now familiar route, and most importantly practiced and played on the sluggish tracks at the Dubai cricket stadium. There is no denying the India advantage; not in the trivial familiarity of rooms or non-existent flight travel but because of the contrasting nature of the pitches on offer in sluggish Dubai and batting-friendly Pakistan. But there is a nuance to this advantage.
The understandable whining over India’s advantage misses the point about the all-round strength in the Indian squad. It has been said that if they knew they were only playing in Dubai, a few other teams also would have packed their squad with more spinners. The fact is India have quality options; not many others have. That’s why only New Zealand, who also played their majority games in Pakistan thus far, have still stacked their squad with enough tweakers. Also, in this day and age, taking one flight from Lahore or Karachi to Dubai isn’t much.
But the main advantage isn’t that of schedule or squad-selection, but of the nature of the pitches. As even India found out in the 2023 ODI world cup, a slow turner at Ahmedabad couldn’t help them as they themselves had played just one game, against Pakistan, in that tournament there. More regularly a team trains and plays on sluggish tracks, the more equipped and ready they get; there is a reason why Chennai Super Kings dominate at Chepauk.
Other teams haven’t had that luxury. In tournament cricket, there is nothing new in terms of a team playing each of their matches at different venues. Unless the event is taking place in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, it happens all the time. However, no team has got this sort of advantage when it comes to playing all their matches at one venue, which has allowed India to get acclimatised to the conditions here. They came here six days before their first match and after their second outing, got a week’s break to get further used to the conditions and it shows in the middle.
Of course, teams these days have the luxury of replicating such conditions in practice arenas. But this hasn’t been a dust bowl or a crumbling pitch where there is sharp turn and bounce to get used to. Instead, it is on the slower side, which even if teams want to replicate it can only be possible to an extent and will know the actual nature of it when they are in the middle as it is a natural wear and tear.
When New Zealand boarded the flight from Rawalpindi to Dubai last week, they knew what to expect here. As their pacer Matt Henry admitted after the humbling on Sunday, they knew India would take the field with four spinners, particularly with just one rest day in between the semi-finals. But no pre knowledge is going to help any of the teams to play in Dubai.
In terms of personnel, there is a familiarity around all of India’s spinners – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar. With regards to Varun as well, by now all teams have access to his videos. There is enough time to just play him off safely, and target the other bowlers. Against New Zealand, India put this plan to good use by playing Mitchell Santner safely and going after Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra.
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But so far in the three matches, no opposition batting line-up has been able to do that against the Indian spinners. While their exceptional control of the craft has definitely had a role in it, what also can’t be overlooked is how little time their opponents have had when it comes to getting used to the conditions in Dubai.
Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand had just two sessions before their match here. So will be the case with Australia, who landed here on Saturday and managed time for two sessions and just one on stadium. Though the practice pitches at the ICC Academy are similar in nature, the square at Dubai International Stadium has been slow in nature. It hasn’t been sluggish like Premadasa or Mirpur, but it is definitely slow enough for batsmen to come in and get adjusted to it no matter how hard you prepare on the practice pitches. Add the slow outfield and the big boundaries they have to cover and the new angles to score off, these are not easy conditions for batsmen to get used to immediately.
Perhaps tired of the advantage talk, India’s captain Rohit Sharma sought to point out how the pitches have presented varying challenges.
“Look, the three matches we played, the nature of the surface was the same. But in all three games, the pitch has behaved differently. Today (Sunday), we saw the ball was swinging a little. We didn’t see that in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. And in the evening, it’s a little cold in the air. So, there are obviously a lot of chances of that swing. We know this. But the three games we played, there are four or five surfaces that are being used. So, every surface has a different nature. We don’t know which wicket will be played. The pitches look the same, but when you play on it, it’s played in a different way,” Rohit said.
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“Because of the different pitches, the pitch is giving you different challenges as a batsman. We have to think whether it’s necessary to play these shots or not. When the bowler was bowling, we saw a little spin today. We didn’t see that much spin in the last game. So, there are different things happening on every surface. So, we know what is going to happen on this pitch and what’s not. This is not our home, this is Dubai. So, we don’t play so many matches here. This is new for us too,” Rohit said.
Only, it’s been totally new-er to the rest. Next up is Australia, a team that could face more problems when it comes to solving the puzzle. With Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood not around, their attack is already thin on experience. Much of their hope is on Adam Zampa’s leg-spin and Glenn Maxwell and they could even be tempted to play Tanveer Sangha. But more than the bowling, what will decide the outcome is how soon their batting unit can get used to the conditions here. If Travis Head can give a quickfire start and Steve Smith decides to drop anchor, it is not beyond their limits.
But can they do it against India spinners overcoming these conditions is the lingering question. And if they do, in some ways, this would be even sweeter than the ODI world cup final; the odds are stacked here far more than it was in 2023.