Will India play four spinners in the semi-final against Australia on Tuesday having achieved success with the same strategy in their last group league match versus New Zealand?
That remains the talking point in Dubai, but Rohit Sharma is non-committal. He is unwilling to reveal his plans though he is not discarding the idea altogether.
“We really need to think, even if we want to play four spinners, how we can squeeze (in) four spinners. If we don’t, then we don’t. Whatever works for us in terms of the bowling options, we will try and do that,” the India captain said.
“The reason I say that is because the conditions here... we are very much aware of the conditions and we know exactly what works and what doesn’t work. So, we’ll just give it a day. We’ll think about it, what is the right combination to go with. But it is tempting.”
Varun Chakravarthy’s match-winning five-wicket haul against the Black Caps has left Rohit undecided.
“He just showed what he’s capable of,” Rohit said of the leg spinner. “Now it is up to us to think and see how we can get that combination right. He did everything that was asked for. And I said it at the post-match as well that he’s got something different about him.
“And when he gets it right, he knocks people over and he takes five-five wickets. We’ll just try and assess. We just want to go back and think about what the Australian batting line-up will look like and how we can try and see what kind of bowling options will work against them.”
Rohit said the players are aware of what they are up against. “It’s a great opposition to play against. We’ve been thinking about the last three games. And we have to approach that game in a similar fashion. We understand the opposition and how they play and stuff like that. But I think the more and more we focus on what we need to do as a group, as a player, as a batting unit, as a bowling unit, that helps us a lot.”
Rohit hit back at detractors who had been trying to pull down the team’s achievements by highlighting an unfair advantage for India in Dubai.
“It’s not like we know what’s going to happen on these pitches,” Rohit said. “We don’t know which pitch will be used in the semi-final, but whatever it is, we will have to adapt and see how it goes. And it’s not our home either — this is Dubai.”
India have played on two pitches in Dubai so far.
“The three matches we have played, the nature of the surface was the same, but the pitch behaved differently in the three games,” Rohit said.
“Against New Zealand, we saw when their pacers bowled, they got the ball to swing and seam, which we didn’t see in the previous two matches when our bowlers were bowling first. And in the evening, it is a little cold, so there is a chance of the ball swinging.”
