India hope to avoid sluggish strike rates, confronted with New Zealand’s cloying spinners

Watching India’s batting group bat in the nets on this trip, one aspect that has stood out is how flexible they have been when it comes to preparing for the slow conditions they are facing in the middle. Across their sessions at the ICC Academy ground, they have been as random as a group can get, in terms of their approach. One moment, they are tonking the pacers and spinners out of the park; next moment they are nudging the ball here and there; then out of nowhere, they would show their imaginative side with reverse-sweeps, paddle sweeps and scoops.

In two matches they may have had a comfortable outing in the middle, but there are tough challenges that lie ahead. They are yet to be tested while batting first, where they would be forced to take a lot more risk than they are used to, in search of a good total to defend. On Sunday, with their place in the semifinals secured, India are set to face New Zealand who irrespective of when the Men in Blue bat are bound to test their batting group with a three-prone spin attack.

If one goes by their career strike-rate against spinners — Virat Kohli 92.22; Shreyas Iyer 102.29; KL Rahul 88.94; Axar Patel 96.73; Hardik Pandya 119.66 – one might wonder what the fuss is all about. But those stats don’t tell a story as a whole. These slow pitches have often been their pitfall. In Sri Lanka for example, where they faced similar conditions to what they have here in Dubai, Kohli’s strike rate dipped to 84.05. Iyer 97.43; Rahul 68.88; Axar 73.14.

Here in Dubai where there is help for bowlers right through the afternoon and evening, there hasn’t been an ideal situation to bat. Except for the openers who have been given the licence to go hard against the new ball, for the rest it has been a scrap where rotating the strike hasn’t been easy as fluency of strokes has been hard to find.