The Champions Trophy final will be played on the same wicket which was used for the India-Pakistan group stage match on February 23.
India had won that match by six wickets. Batting first, Pakistan made 241 in 49.4 overs with India reaching the target in 42.3 overs.
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, however, is not reading much into the nature of the wicket.
“In every match, the wicket changes slightly. As a batting coach, how do you assess our batsmen’s ability to adapt? While the wicket does change a bit, its overall nature hasn’t shifted much.
“However, the batting has been excellent. And secondly, we’ve been fortunate to get solid starts, and on occasions when those starts were lacking, the middle order stepped up,” Kotak said in Dubai on Friday.
“Our batters, to be very honest, can adjust on any surface. We will take it step by step.”
The Indian team had an extended evening practice session under lights at the ICC Academy grounds on Friday. This was effectively the last practice session ahead of Sunday’s final against New Zealand.
Kotak said the extended stay in Dubai didn’t offer any advantage to India and added that such criticism began only after the team started winning their matches.
“I don’t understand what advantage we get from this (pitch). People feel that India got an advantage after we won the matches. I don’t know what to say about that. We just played to the draw,” Kotak said.
“I think in a game, you have to play good cricket every day when you turn up. If you don’t play well, then you can’t complain. And if you play well, there is no point in saying whether you got an advantage or not.
“I don’t really think we have an advantage just because we are practising here and we are playing matches here,” he added.
Kotak echoed head coach Gautam Gambhir’s view that the nature of the pitches at the training facility and at the Dubai International Stadium were vastly different.
“We obviously practise on different wickets. We are playing matches on different pitches. We all know that. So, the only thing is that we played here. But that is how the draw is. So nothing else can happen in that.
“It is not that after coming here, they changed something and we got an advantage,”
he said.
Kotak also dismissed the notion that India have a psychological edge over New Zealand in the final after defeating them in the group match.
“I think we should not think like that. We should just try and turn up and play a good game of cricket. There is no point in thinking about the last match. We have to think what to do on the 9th.”
